West of the Sun, East of the Moon
by FarStrider
Summary: [COMPLETE] A sick Rooster. . . A put-upon Wolf. . . and A SaiSa Fairytale you won't soon forget. . . (Heartfelt thanks to everyone reading this story)
1. Prologue

**Title:** West of the Sun, East of the Moon  
**Author:** FarStrider  
**E-mail:** TDH2001@juno.com  
**Archive:** Ask, and we shall see. . .   
**Rating:** R  
**Warnings:** Language, violence and hints of sadism, implied M/M relationships  
**Disclaimer:** I freely admit that I'm a thief. . .all named characters (except for Moriyama – he's mine)  belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shonen Jump, Shueisha, etc., the plot of LadyHawke belongs to Richard Donner and Warner Brothers; hell, even the idea to steal this plot in the first place belonged to Mizel way back near the beginning of this list.  Any poetry found herein can be found in _Comrade Loves of the Samurai / Songs of the Geishas_ by Saikaku Ihara, translated by Edward Powys Mathers.  Obviously, I'm not at all creative. . . 

**Author's Notes:**  I'd like to thank each and every person without whose patience, belief, understanding and a few quick kicks in the butt I wouldn't have finished. . . Delvinress, Black Faery, MsJadey, Queen Yokozuna, Ukio, Halcyon Star, and Alet-san. . .y'all are the best.  And last but not least, Sana, to whom this story is dedicated. . .I started this over a year ago for her first fic contest. . .unfortunately, I didn't finish in time. . . without her inspiration, I would have never even started.  Thanks Sana!

            _"Tell me a story, Sagara-taicho," a hoarse, weak voice accompanied the surprisingly strong grip on the hem of his uniform trouser leg.  Saitou looked down into the fever-glazed eyes of his young lover, Sagara Sanosuke, and then raised and eyebrow at the foxy doctor, who seemed to be trying to hold back a laugh. _

_            "He's hallucinating?"  Saitou asked her, trying not to let concern color his voice.  Unfortunately for him, Takani Megumi was the smartest of the Kenshin-gumi, and she saw right through him._

_"Don't worry Officer Saitou," Megumi said pleasantly as she packed her medical bag, preparing to leave.  "It's just a combination of the medication and his fever.  He'll be fine once the fever breaks."  She headed for the door of Sano's tatty apartment.  _

_"And just where do you think you're going?" Saitou asked in alarm when he noticed that she really intended to leave.  Megumi gave him a look that he assumed she reserved for very slow children._

_"The Roosterhead isn't the only person in __Tokyo__ with this flu, Officer Saitou," she said with a slight frown.  "I've got several other patients to see before this day is over."  _

_"But who's going to take care of him?"  Saitou looked down again into Sano's barely focused eyes.  _

_"Please, Taicho?" the young man, flushed with fever, begged piteously, and then smiled up at him expectantly._

_"I thought you were staying to watch over him," Megumi said in a tone full of insinuations that Saitou didn't want to deal with at the moment.  His relationship with the boy was none of her concern._

"I, too, have a job, Dr. Takani," Saitou said as he sternly stared the young woman down.  She raised an exquisite eyebrow at him.

_"It will be a couple of hours before I can send anyone over to check on Sano.  But if you want to have to chase hallucinating Roosterheads through the streets of __Tokyo__, then feel free to leave," she said with a shrug.  Saitou glowered at her.  He was beginning to understand why Sano called her Fox Woman; she was nearly as tricky as his wife, Tokio.  His eyes returned to Sanosuke's fever bright gaze and he sighed inwardly._

"Hn," he grunted, conceding with ill grace.  "And exactly what am I supposed to do with him for two hours?" he asked.  Megumi Takani gave him a sly, foxy smile as she flipped her long black hair over her shoulder.

_"You _could_ tell him a story," she said.  Saitou gave her the narrow eyed glare that had frozen the blood of many an opponent, only to have her laugh her foxy 'Ohohoho' laugh.  She opened the shoji and stepped through, stopping to give him one last look as she put on her shoes.  "And no smoking around my patients," she said watching him take out a cigarette.  Saitou put away his cigarette and gave her a look that promised slow death as she laughed again, closing the screen.  Saitou sat on his lover's futon and the boy snuggled up to his leg._

_"I thought she'd never leave," Sano said, coughing. Saitou looked down at him in surprise, but the boy's brown eyes were still much too bright, and his cheeks were still flushed; that cough didn't sound good either._

_"If I thought you were faking, Ahou, your Foxy doctor friend wouldn't be able to help you," Saitou said, making himself comfortable.  Sano smiled guilelessly up at him._

_"Tell me a story," Sano demanded again, and Saitou chuckled at him.  _'A story,' _he thought to himself,_ 'Why not?'  _He had nothing better to do for the next couple of hours.  Saitou stroked back the sweat damped brown hair with a tenderness that Tokio and his own children would be surprised at, and began:_

_"Once upon a time…"_


	2. Chapter one

            The thousands of swans flying in from the North to swim across the reflection of Mount Bandai in Lake Inawashiro, the Mirror of Heaven, signaled the inevitable approach of winter.  The beauty of the season, however, was lost to one listening intently to the voices of deep-throated bells and the brassy clang of gongs floating up from the city in the valley, proclaiming the impossible possible:  someone had escaped the inescapable prisons of the Daimyo of Aizu.  High in the hills above the city, a black-cloaked rider on a large black horse, narrowed his amber eyes as he watched samurai scurrying to and fro like ants from a kicked over ant hill searching for the prisoner.  A small frown, then a smirk crossed his sharp features as he stood in his stirrups and raised his gauntleted fist to the sky.  A golden eagle swooped down from the clouds and neatly back winged to land on the gauntlet.  "It seems the gods listen to prayers after all," the man said softly to the bird.   "I prayed for a sign that justice for us was at hand, and listen, the very hills echo with their answer."   

            The eagle looked at the man with expectant brown eyes as a red leather leash was attached to the red tasseled jesses on its feathered legs.  "Greedy," the rider chided the bird teasingly as he stroked the brown feathers on the eagle's breast, "you _know_ you ate the last of the rabbit this morning."  The eagle squawked indignantly at him as it shook the rucked feathers back into place.  "I would tell you to go catch a mouse or something, but it seems that the present _Daimyo_ is as poor a steward of the land as he is a leader of men," the rider sneered, watching as a small figure furtively jump from the back of a hay wagon passing through the unguarded gates.  The figure straightened up and began to walk nonchalantly into the countryside of stunted cropland, with the searching soldiers of the city none the wiser.  The watcher set the bird on its saddle perch, and wheeled the horse in the direction the escapee was headed.  "Let's go pick up our miracle," he said.  The eagle chirped its agreement as the man in the black cloak touched his heels to his horse's flanks.

***

The sign at the open-air restaurant read "Akabeko," and the smell of sizzling beef pots that wafted for miles seemed to be lure enough for the numerous hooded, cloaked patrons braving the chilly autumn weather.  A small, dirty looking peasant boy, no more than twelve, dressed in clothes that were much too large for him, made his way to an open seat next to a man with a cloth covering his eyes at the communal bench.  "Waitress, your best sake!" he ordered, over the murmur of the gathered men, in a voice that had yet to settle into its adult timbre.  The pretty waitress took in his dirt and hand-me-down clothes and raised an eyebrow.  

"Show me your money," she said in an accent that announced that she was a stranger to this prefect.  The boy took a heavy coin purse from under his happi, and shook it at her.

"I think that this will cover it," he said cheekily.  "And bring a pot for anyone who will share a toast with me."  The crowd quieted at this prospect, and all eyes turned to the boy.

"What's your toast?" the blind man asked, his voice hale and startling.

"We are drinking to a special man, my friends, someone who has been in the dungeons of Aizu and lived to tell the tale."

"Then we are drinking to me, little boy.  I've been in those dungeons."

"I'm not a little boy.  Maybe you were a stonecutter, or blacksmith, before you lost your sight; but a prisoner, from inside Aizu?  I don't think so."

"I never said I was a prisoner," the blind man said as he removed his hooded cloak to reveal the kimono and hakama uniform of the Daimyo's personal guard.  All around the open-air café, other cloaks were being discarded, revealing other guards.  "You made two mistakes, little thief:  one, if you had stayed in the woods, you'd _probably_ still be free; and two, you should have never stolen that purse from old Gein as you came in."  The man in question began to frantically pat himself down in search of his purse, much to the laughter of his fellows.  

"Ah, damn!" the boy cursed as he dove under the table, and came up on the other side.  Pandemonium broke loose.   Because the soldiers were reluctant to draw their swords in such a close space, the boy almost escaped them.  Being young and agile, he jumped over benches, overturned tables, climbed trellises, ran on top of counters, crawled between legs, and nearly eeled his way over the railing that separated the restaurant from the surrounding fields before being caught by the scruff of his neck by blind captain.  

"Well, that was fun, but it's time for you to die, Myojin Yahiko," the blind man nearly purred as he raised his thickheaded spear.  "We can't have anyone bragging about escaping the inescapable prisons of Aizu, now can we?"  The boy closed his eyes and waited for the deathblow.  The hiss of a sword leaving its sheath, and the clang of metal ringing against metal made him open his eyes again.  

"Usui, considering how pathetic the guards of Aizu have become, I'm not surprised to see that the new Daimyo made _you_ their captain," said a tall man dressed entirely in black, whose sword blocked the blind man's spear. "Still picking on defenseless children, I see."  His voice was warmly mocking, friendly even, but his amber eyes were like ice.

"It's Captain Saitou," several voices around the restaurant whispered, "the Wolf of Mibu has returned."  Looks of respect, awe, fear, and loathing swept over the faces of the guards.  Usui dropped the condemned prisoner and readied his spear.  In the sudden tension that filled the eating area, no one seemed to notice as the prisoner slowly ducked under the rail and slowly made his escape.

"Saitou Hajime.  Shigure told me that you had been spotted in the area, and I had his tongue cut out, because I knew that even you weren't that stupid.   You owe me a new aide-de-camp."

"I should have killed you a long time ago, Usui," disgust making Saitou's words come out harsh and clipped.

"You are very welcome to try it now, Saitou," Usui growled swinging his spear into his starting stance.  Saitou jumped back and whistled between his teeth.  His huge black horse jumped the rail causing the guards and Usui to scatter like leaves.  Saitou jumped into the saddle without ever taking his eyes off Usui.

"What's the horse's name?" Sano interrupted the story in a thick voice.  Saitou raised an eyebrow at the question, and thought it must be a product of the fever.

_"Why is that important, Ahou?"_

_"Because…well, it just is," Sano said, using the logic of a child.  Saitou rolled his eyes._

_"The horse's name is Horse," he growled, hoping that the young man would shut up.  He should have known better._

_"Horse?" Sano cried out indignantly, coughing.  "Horse?  That's terrible!"_

_"Do _you _want to tell this story?  Or better yet, I can just leave now and go back to _my_ very important work."  Sano's hands made a very fast grab at Saitou's pants._

_"No, no…go on," he commanded weakly.  Saitou smirked down at him._

_"Where was I?"_

_"The hero was jumping on 'Horse's' back…" Sano said, emphasizing the name._

_"Oh yes…."_

"Hn.  Another time, Usui; real soon, I promise.  Right now, I've got a boy to catch."  And with that the black horse reared and vaulted out of the eating area, again leaving men scattered in its wake.  Saitou quickly found the boy untying horses from the hitching post in an effort to steal one.  Unfortunately for the boy, he kept spooking the animals into running as he clumsily tried to jump onto their saddles. 

"Don't just stand there," Usui screamed at his men, breaking the seeming spell they were under as they watched their former Captain, "go get them!"  Yahiko actually squeaked as several men ran from the restaurant drawing their swords.  Deciding that the horses were now a waste of his time, he tried to run for the trees.  However, he had only run only a few steps when he was lifted up by the back of his overlarge jacket and flung onto the back of the huge black horse like a sack of radishes.  From his new perch Yahiko watched as some of the samurai ran after their fleeing horses, while those who had mounts were suddenly attacked by a golden eagle diving into their faces, and causing the now rearing horses to dump their riders to the ground.  He was vastly disappointed when the trees at the outskirts of the forest hid the scene from view.


	3. Chapter two

Uonuma Usui stood motionlessly, listening to the murmur of water and occasional clack of the bamboo water clock in the Daimyo's meditation garden; it wasn't all he heard though.  Using his "Eye of the Heart," he could hear the Daimyo's slow heartbeat and rhythmic breathing as Shibumi sat in the center of his garden.  Usui followed the sounds to their owner.  "My Lord," he said, bowing, but not bothering to hide the sneer in his voice as he heard the Daimyo's heartbeat speed up in alarm.

"Usui, did you capture the escaped prisoner?" Shibumi asked, looking up from the lotus position at the blind Captain of his Guards. Usui heard him deepen his breathing in an attempt to calm his racing heart.

"No, Lord.  He is not in my custody at this time," Usui answered, listening as anger propelled the blood throughout the Daimyo's body in a rush.  Usui knew that the Daimyo's anger was somewhat justified; the escape of the little gutter thief was not only a blow to Aizu's reputation; it was, by extension, a personal blow to Shibumi.  However, the justification did not make it any easier to accept the upcoming tantrum the Captain of the Guards knew was coming.

Usui kept his head bowed in order to hide his scorn.  In his opinion, Shibumi was a fool with no real conception of true power. Before his elevation to Daimyo, he had been a minor, and much-put-upon, functionary in the Emperor's Court whose job had been to see to the trivial whims of the vapid Court nobles.  Usui thus found it pathetic and laughable that when Shibumi had finally got a taste of real power he abused it by trying to emulate and outdo those same insipid courtiers.  The only reason he hid his amused contempt was because it was Shibumi's rise to power that had enabled his own.

"Then why do you invade my garden, unannounced and unwashed?" Shibumi asked scathingly.  "Did you think you'd find him here?"  Usui frowned at the insult, able to tell that Shibumi was pleased with his own cleverness.  He decided to end that state of mind as quickly as possible.

"Saitou Hajime has returned," Usui said simply, secretly reveling in the galloping heartbeat and the acrid smell of fear suddenly emanating from the Daimyo.  No one in Aizu knew the entire story; just that the former Captain of the Guards had taken something precious from Shibumi, and that the Daimyo wanted him dead. "The escapee, Myojin Yahiko, travels with him.  My most trusted men are searching the forest."

"And the eagle?" Shibumi asked, a new smell beginning to rise from his pores.  Usui didn't know what to make of this smell, wasn't quite sure what it could mean, but it was there, underlying the fear.  It didn't make sense, really; that damned bird couldn't be what Saitou had stolen from Shibumi.  

"My Lord?" Usui asked in order to be sure that he was correct about Shibumi's state of mind.

"Saitou travels with an extremely spirited golden eagle.  I want you to bring me that bird.  Kill Saitou if you can," Usui bristled inwardly at the slight, "kill the boy; but the day the eagle dies, the new Captain of my Guards will preside over your execution.  Am I making myself clear?"

"Perfectly," Usui growled, hiding the fact that Shibumi's question was almost literally true.  He knew what was in his Daimyo's heart, but he did not understand why; the smells of fear and anticipation tinged with the scent of lust, were too hard to ignore, however.

"You are my hand among the people, Usui, and my most trusted servant.  I know you will not fail me in this.  You are dismissed."  Usui bowed once again, hiding his displeasure at the man.  "One last thing, Usui, find the hunter, Arundo Akamatsu, and send him to me."  

"As you wish my Lord," Usui murmured, bowing his way out of the garden.

***

They smelled the smoke a long time before they came upon the small cottage and a low shed in a clearing in the woods.  Saitou reined in his horse from a trot to walk. "Why are we stopping now?" Yahiko whined from his place behind Saitou in the saddle.  "There's still plenty of light."

"One, it's going to be rather cold tonight, and personally, I would like to have shelter.  Two, there are plenty of forest spirits just waiting for a pair of unwary travelers to stumble upon their lairs in the darkness, so that they can do some mischief upon them."  The man turned in the saddle, smirking as Yahiko gulped.  "And if that wasn't enough for you:  three, there are wolves about.  _I_ will spend the night here.  _You_, on the other hand, are free to go on ahead as you please."

"Since you put it that way, I guess those are pretty good reasons," Yahiko said, feigning nonchalance.  Saitou snorted and guided his horse to the little farmstead.  Both the sullen looking peasant and his equally sullen looking wife, who had stopped in the middle of their chores to bow at the passing lord, looked up in dismay when said lord stopped in front of them.

"My Lord," the man sniveled, "we are sorry we are late with our taxes, but our crops failed, and there is barely enough to feed ourselves for the winter…" Saitou raised his hand to stop the tide of excuses.

"Hn. You seemed to have mistaken me for someone who cares. Your tax situation is none of my concern.  Save your excuses.  My servant and I will be staying here for the night," he said in a tone that brooked no argument.  The farmer's wife tried to argue anyway.

"We have no place for you here," she nearly spat at them.

"We _will_ pay you of course," Yahiko said, flashing his stolen purse at the couple, trying to soften the command in Saitou's voice.  The farmers looked at the purse as if weighing it with their eyes, and began to whisper to themselves.  Saitou raised an eyebrow at Yahiko, but kept his peace.

"You can sleep in the shed," the woman said, still sullen.  Her husband nodded, and they both went into their cottage, and closed the door behind them.

"Even this far from Aizu, Shibumi poisons the land," Saitou murmured to the eagle, as he slid from his horse's back and led it to the low shed.  Yahiko, looking back at the cottage, noticed two pairs of surly eyes watching them.

"Why am I doing all of the work," Yahiko, carrying another armload of firewood into the shed, whined shortly before sunset, as he passed by Saitou who was seated on a stump.  Earlier he had carried the water, curried the rather unimaginatively named 'Horse,' and gathered the hay for their bedding, while Saitou had sat magnificently supervising and sharpening his sword with a whet stone and oilcloth.

"Because our hosts believe that you are my servant," he said coolly, without looking up "and because they have been watching us all of this time."  Yahiko glanced up at the cottage again as a flicker passed by the window.  "Besides," and at this, Saitou stood and walked into their temporary shelter, "I saved you from certain death this afternoon; I think you owe me something."  Yahiko could only curse at his logic, and glare daggers at his back.  Saitou returned moments later carrying one of his saddlebags over his shoulder, and looking nearly naked without his sword on his hip.  He held up his gauntleted fist and whistled between his teeth.  The eagle swooped down suddenly, landing neatly.  He spoke to the bird softly in crooning nonsense syllables, and began walking toward the woods.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Yahiko yelled.

"I'm going to see if I can obscure our trail a little bit."

"But the sun is setting!  You won't be able to see anything!"

"Don't be so sure of that," Saitou said mockingly. "Make a small fire, stay in the shed, and sleep with one eye open.  There are spirits at work on a night like this."  And with that, he disappeared into the forest, leaving Yahiko to wonder if it would have been better to take his chances in prison.

Yahiko watched through one of the numerous holes in the shed's wall as the waning moon slowly rose over the forest clearing in the east.  It had been several hours since the tall nobleman had vanished, and though the boy wasn't really concerned about him, it was rather disconcerting that the man hadn't returned.  As Saitou had predicted, the night had turned bitterly cold, and somewhere off in the distance, Yahiko could hear the lonely howl of a wolf.  'Maybe he's run into a forest spirit,' Yahiko thought smugly as he snuck outside the shed to take a piss.  'Ha! It'd serve him right, making me do all of his work like some kind of slave.'  He found a likely tree, and was starting to wonder if his bladder was full enough to allow him to write his name in the hardening frost, when he heard the whispering voices of their hosts.

"I say we do it now," the woman's voice came from a nearby clump of trees.  "That noble hasn't returned, and killing that runty servant of his will be easy."  Yahiko felt his eyes widen as he realized that she meant him.

"But what happens when that bastard comes back?" the man asked in equally hushed tones.

"You wait in the shed, and surprise him," the woman answered eagerly.  "We take their money, sell their possessions and maybe the horse, and we'll have enough money to set ourselves up as merchants in Heian-kyo."  Yahiko began slowly backing away from the murderous couple.  The crack of the fallen branch that he tripped over was a loud report in the icy darkness, and he hit the ground with a soft grunt.  "What was that?"

"The boy," the man yelled, and the sounds of running steps filled the air, forcing Yahiko to his feet to do some running of his own.  The shed was within sight when he looked over his shoulder to see the man closing in on him with a wicked looking axe, raised to strike, glinting weakly in the waning moonlight. 

'Please, please, please,' Yahiko begged whatever forest spirits were in the area with every panting breath and each time his feet touched the ground.  The farmer actually roared as he came within striking distance.  "SAITOU!" Yahiko screeched in the dim hope that the man was near enough to hear him.  A scream that was not his own reached his ears, and he turned around in time to see what must have been the largest black wolf ever, clamp its jaws shut over the farmer's throat and shake him.  The man was dead before he hit the ground.  The wolf let out a fierce growl, and took off in a run toward the forest where the farmer's wife was hiding.  Yahiko ran to the shed and slammed the door.  A gurgling squeal proclaimed that the woman had met her fate.

Peeking out of a hole in the wall, looking for the wolf, he saw what appeared to be a tall young man dressed in white clothes stroll nonchalantly into the clearing.  Yahiko, not wanting to draw the attention of the rampaging beast, hissed as loudly as he dared: "Oi, stupid, didn't you just hear all of that noise?!  There's a wolf out there!"  But it was too late; the wolf stalked back into the clearing, licking blood from its muzzle.  Yahiko closed his eyes as he saw the wolf gather itself for another spring, unwilling to watch another death.

"Hey! Ouch! Will you stop that!  Bad wolf!  No fair, that tickles!" and laughter were not exactly the death screams that Yahiko was expecting to hear.  He opened his eyes and stared out of his hole in the wall.  The young man in white and the wolf were rolling on the ground, not in a death struggle, but like any boy playing with a puppy.  A very large, very dangerous puppy.  The wolf suddenly stopped the game and loped toward the shed.  Yahiko let out a yelp, and began frantically searching for something with which to bar the door.  He found Saitou's sword and clumsily pulled it out of its sheath as the door swung open and the young man and the wolf walked in.

"Stay where you are," Yahiko said through chattering teeth.  The white-clad youth, who was brushing dead leaves out of his wild hair, gave him a bemused look.

"Put that down before you hurt someone, most likely yourself," he said pushing past Yahiko without concern, and going straight for Saitou's remaining saddlebag.  Yahiko did not dare turn to watch what the young man was doing, as the black wolf was studying his every move.  "I knew it!" came the young man's deep, triumphant voice from behind him.  "He lied about that rabbit!"  The wolf heaved what could only be called an exasperated sigh.  The young man came back into view, still ignoring the fact that Yahiko was holding the sword, and began preparing to roast the rabbit over Yahiko's small fire.  "You hungry?" he asked Yahiko over his shoulder, the ends of his red bandana fluttering over the word 'evil' embroidered on the back of his white jacket.

"No, I don't think I could eat anything right now," Yahiko said, not lowering the sword.  "Who are you?  Are you a forest spirit?"  Although the young man didn't look like any forest spirit that Yahiko had ever heard of, Yahiko had to admit to himself that he did look rather fey in the red-gold firelight, with his unusually brown, spiky hair and his wide brown eyes.  And of course, there was the wolf, which heaved another exasperated sounding sigh.  The young man raised an eyebrow, and then flashed a disarming grin.

"My name is Sagara Sanosuke, and if I said yes, would you put the sword down?"

"Are you crazy?  There's a wolf in here!" Yahiko yelled, not truly believing the situation.  The young man rolled his earth-brown eyes.

"The wolf won't hurt you, Yahiko," he said calmly, turning to watch as the fire cooked his meal.

"Try telling that to those farmers," Yahiko snapped.  "Your wolf did more than _hurt_ them!"

"And this is a bad thing, how?  Weren't they trying to kill you?"  Yahiko didn't have a good answer for that.

"Well, yeah, but…" he said, lowering the sword a little; he _had_ prayed for a forest spirit to come and save him after all.  The wolf padded past him to sit next to the fire and its master, watching at Yahiko with amber eyes.

"Ch'. Try to help some people, these days…you're sure you don't want any?"  The rabbit was just now forming a deep brown crust. Yahiko just shook his head; he really didn't think his stomach could handle food at the moment.  "Your loss," the young man said, as he began to tear into the rabbit like he hadn't eaten for days.

"Shouldn't you feed some of that to your wolf?  I mean he might get hungry in the middle of the night or something…" Yahiko trailed off as the wolf began watching the young man and the rabbit intently, licking its chops.

"Nah, he can go out and catch a mouse or something."  The young man just ignored the wolf as it began growling softly at him.

"Hey wait a minute! How did you know my name?  How did you know that there was a rabbit in Saitou's saddlebag?  And where is Saitou, anyway?  You _are_ a forest spirit, aren't you?  Am I dreaming this?"  The young man laughed at him, wiping away the rabbit grease dripping down his chin with his sleeve; even the wolf seemed to grin. 

"Yes, Yahiko, you're dreaming," he said with a wink.  "Go back to sleep."


	4. Chapter three

            The weak morning sun was streaming through the cracks in the shed, when Saitou decided that Yahiko had slept enough.  "Wake up, lazy-ass," Saitou growled, tapping the softly snoring boy on the forehead with the toe of his zori sandal, "unless you _want_ to get caught by the Daimyo's guards."  The boy waved his foot off sleepily.  Saitou knelt down and liberated his sword from the boy's sleep-addled grasp, marveling that he hadn't rolled upon it in the night killing himself.  He looked around the shed one last time to see if there was anything else he had forgotten to pack up; but waking Yahiko seemed to be his last task.

            "Huh? Wha- ...I wasn't asleep…" the boy claimed with a yawn, wiping sleep from his eyes and hay from his hair.  Saitou smirked down at him.

            "Hn.  I'd hate to be around when you really are asleep, then, if you snore like that when you are awake.  I bet even the farmers heard you."  Yahiko gasped and sat straight up.

            "The farmers!  Saitou!  Are they all right?  I dreamt that they were killed by a wolf and…"

            "We don't have time for this right now.  I've obscured our trail, and the coming snow storm should help us even more, but even someone as incompetent as Usui will find us if we stay here much longer," Saitou said as he left the shed, and mounted his horse.  He watched as Yahiko stumbled out after him, adjusting his stolen coat.  The swordsman reached down from the horse to help him up.  Yahiko froze, his foot in the air reaching for the stirrup, as his eyes landed on the axe and the gory body of the farmer.  

"But, it was only a dream, wasn't it?" he murmured.  Saitou gripped his forearm hard, and yanked him into the saddle.  The eagle swooped down to perch on the saddle horn.

"Sometimes, dreams come true," Saitou stated quietly, silently hoping the boy would stay calm.  "You can tell me of your dreams as we ride.  We really want to be well away from here when Shibumi's guards, and the snow, arrive," he said as he heeled the big black horse into ground eating, bone jouncing motion.  The forest quickly swallowed up the ill-fated farm from Yahiko's sight.

"It was all real," Yahiko whispered as he turned away from the direction of the farm, "that forest spirit lied to me."  Saitou looked over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow at the boy.

"Forest spirit?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but there was this crazy guy dressed in white, and there was this big black wolf with him.  He had to be a forest spirit.  I mean no one would travel with a wolf, right?  You have to believe me."

"Start at the beginning, leave nothing out," Saitou said, in a tone that sounded suspiciously like he was humoring the boy.  Yahiko pouted, but did as he was told.  They rode through the forest for a couple of hours with Yahiko recounting his adventures of the night before with a breathless 'and then…and then…and then…' style.

"You know, you shouldn't have flash that purse at those farmers yesterday," Saitou interrupted.  "They were honor-bound to help us, we didn't really have to offer to pay them."

"Excuse me for trying to be nice!"  Yahiko growled.  "They were poor, and you were being a complete bastard."

"Hn.  Go on with your story," Saitou said, ignoring the bastard remark.

"Anyway, they heard me, and the farmer ran after me with the axe.  He nearly caught me too, except this HUGE black demon wolf jumped him and tore his throat out!  I ran to the shed and got your sword, while the wolf ran after the farmer's wife."  Yahiko shuddered slightly.  "And then this idiot dressed in white came out of the forest into the clearing, just blithely ignoring the screams.  I tried to get him into the shed but it was too late; the wolf pounced him."  Yahiko stopped talking again.

"I didn't see a body dressed in white," Saitou said, urging the boy to continue.

"That's because the wolf didn't kill him.  They rolled around for a bit, playing, I guess, and then the wolf led the guy right to the shed!  They came right in!  I've never been so scared.  Anyway the guy completely ignored the fact that I was holding your sword, and went straight for your saddlebag, like he knew exactly what he was looking for… Hey wait a minute!  He said you had lied about the rabbit!  You lied to a forest spirit, and now he and his wolf are following you around trying to get revenge, right?"  Saitou actually chuckled.

"Did this forest spirit and his 'demon wolf' do anything that you would say was harmful?"

"Well, the wolf did kill the farmers, but they were going to rob and kill us…" Yahiko said thoughtfully.

"I don't think you were in any danger from them.  Besides, if you are right, it's me they were after."  Yahiko could almost swear that Saitou was laughing at him.  The swordsman slowed Horse, and stood in the stirrups, sniffing the wind like some sort of animal.

"I think we should stop soon.  It's going to start snowing shortly.  We should be far enough ahead of Usui's fools by now."

"Snow?" Yahiko asked looking at through the branches of the trees at the blue sky.  The western wind was warm.  However, Saitou had predicted last night's cold snap… along with wolves and spirits…Yahiko's mind quickly skirted away from where his thoughts were taking him.  Think of safe things, he told himself.  "You really hate Usui, don't you?"  Saitou snorted, as he slid off the horse and began leading it into a dense clump of trees.

"Uonuma Usui is not worth my hatred, boy.  He is a waste of potential, and a bully.  However, if he gets in the way of my mission, I will not hesitate to cut him down."

"Exactly what is your mission?" Yahiko asked, sliding out of the saddle as Saitou tied Horse to a tree. 

"Justice," was Saitou's terse reply.  He gestured for Yahiko to pick up sticks for kindling, as he began unpacking the horse.

"Justice?  Ha!  There's no such thing!"

"Why do you say that?"

"If there was Justice, then I wouldn't've had to become a thief."

"Explain."

"My father was a great warrior, a samurai in the Daimyo's army," Yahiko said quietly.  "Whenever the Daimyo called for his troops, my father was always one of the first to go.  However, it costs money to maintain a samurai, and my family was not rich.  My father borrowed money from the yakuza, with the intent of paying them off when he returned from service.  He was killed in battle."  Yahiko sighed and picked up a few more likely sticks.  Saitou said nothing, waiting patiently for the boy to continue.  "So the yakuza began to harass my mother, but she obviously didn't have the money.  She went to the Daimyo to ask for my father's pay, for what was owed to us, and she was refused.  Shibumi's guards threw her out into the street.  The yakuza then offered her a job as a night woman, but she was the wife of a samurai, daughter of samurai, and the shame that such work would bring to our family would have been unbearable.  When the harassment became too much, she took her own life.  In order to restore my family's honor, to pay off our debts, I became a thief for the yakuza."

"I remember your father," Saitou said gravely.  "Shibumi has a lot to answer for.  In the last two years, I've been all over Japan, and everywhere I went, the Daimyo took care of his people.  Shibumi has only used his position to make himself rich.  He makes his people into beggars, thieves and murderers.  He deserves the Justice of Aku. Soku. Zan.  And it is my mission to see that he receives it."

"You're going to _kill _Shibumi?  Are you nuts?" Yahiko squeaked.  "You and what army?"  Saitou smirked at the boy.

"I don't need an army.  I have you."  Yahiko actually dropped the kindling in shock.

"Me?  You _are_ nuts!  There's no way in hell I'm going back to Aizu!"

"You are the only one who has escaped from the city.  You will be my guide into it," Saitou said as if it were a given.  "Don't you want to see justice served?"

"Of course I do, and I wish you all the luck in the world, sir.  However, I want to keep breathing too.  And I get the feeling that I won't be doing it much longer if I go back to Aizu with you," Yahiko said indignantly.  Saitou raised an eyebrow at him. 

"It's your destiny to help me, you know," Saitou said as if he were discussing the weather.  Yahiko felt a shiver creep down his spine at the man's words, and thoughts of wolves and spirits returned full force.

"You have given me my life, my Lord, and the truth is I will never be able to repay you for that.  However," Yahiko said as he turned to escape into the forest, "you would have to kill me to get me to go back to the city, and being the honorable man that you are…" Saitou's katana thunked into the trunk of the tree that Yahiko was passing.  Yahiko looked at the gently swaying sword that had missed his head by inches, and then back at its owner who was still smirking at him.  "I'll just go get some wood," he finished weakly.

"That's a good idea," Saitou said quietly as he sent his eagle on some unfathomable errand.  "It's going to snow."

***

Night had fallen.  A soft dusting of autumnal snow gleamed dimly in the weak moonlight that filtered through the trees.  Off in the distance, the wolf howled.  Sanosuke ran through the forest, reveling in his speed, hoping to catch the rabbit that he was chasing down.  "Got'cha," he murmured to himself as he pounced on his prey.  Just then, a plaintive voice floated down from above him, startling him, and making him miss his catch.

"Excuse me?  Um, Forest Spirit?"  Sano, startled and sitting helplessly in the snow, watched as his rabbit escaped through the woods before he turned his brown eyes up to the trees.  "Could you get me down from here?"   He began to laugh at the sight of Yahiko tied to an upper branch. 

"Let me guess, Saitou _really_ must have wanted your company," Sanosuke said, still laughing.  Yahiko let out and indignant squeak.

"It's not funny!  My arms are going numb here," Yahiko pouted, and Sano nodded, wiping away the laughing tears from the corners of his eyes.  He quickly climbed the tree.  

"I really shouldn't do this, you know.  How did Saitou get you up here, anyway?" he asked, as he began loosening the knots that bound the boy.

"How do you know it was Saitou?" Yahiko asked just to be contrary.  "The Daimyo's men could have done it."  Sanosuke chuckled, his breath coming out as clouds of steam in the cold night air.  He untied the last knot, and the boy dropped from the tree like a stone.  Yahiko rolled to his feet.

"Saitou's hojojutsu demands a very precise style of knot; Shibumi's men would have just killed you; and Horse is tied right there," he said, pointing to the big black stallion. "Besides only Saitou would be bastard enough to do something like _this_," Sano answered, looking around the forest from his perch in the tree.  "Listen, kid…" he said, looking down to the boy, only to find that Yahiko was no where to be found.  "Ah shit," he groaned as he knocked his head against the tree trunk.  "He's going to kill me."

***

Shibumi paced around the lavishly decorated room where he held his audiences.  The hunter, Arundo Akamatsu knelt face down on a bearskin that he himself had provided as a gift to Shibumi when he ascended to the position of Daimyo of Aizu.  "No.  None of these will do, Akamatsu," he growled.  He watched as the hunter's shoulders tensed.

"My traps are full of wolves, my Lord.  I can't kill every damned wolf in the forests around Aizu," the hunter growled in return.  The Daimyo glared down at the hunter for his audacity, but he reminded himself that he needed the scar-faced man.

"I don't want every 'damned wolf' in the forest, hunter," his voice grated with barely kept control.  "There is a young man, tall, strong of body, beautiful of face, with hair and eyes as brown as the earth.  He travels by night; his sun is the moon.  And his name is Sagara Sanosuke.  Find him, and you find the wolf that I want…a black wolf:  the wolf that loves him.  Bring me the hide of _that_ wolf, and your reward will be beyond your imagination."


	5. Chapter four

            Bright early morning sunshine, streaming through the bare snow covered tree branches, found Saitou Hajime astride his big black horse staring coolly at the ropes that he'd used to tie Myojin Yahiko to the tree the night before.  He gave a piercing whistle through his teeth and raised his gauntlet for the eagle to perch upon.  The golden eagle swooped through the branches and circled over Saitou's head a few times, as if reluctant to land.  Saitou smirked as the bird finally decided to set down.

            "He's gone," Saitou said simply as the eagle swept its brown eyes over the tree.  It softly cheeped its agreement.  "Why am I not surprised?"  The bird cocked its head at the question, as if it were contemplating answering.  "I don't suppose _you _know anything about it?" Saitou asked rhetorically.  The eaglesuddenly seemed to realize that its feathers were in desperate need of preening and began seeing to the job diligently, ignoring Saitou all together.  "Hn, just as I thought," Saitou said and chuckled low in his throat.  "Well, let's go get him, Feather-head."  The bird stopped its preening long enough to deliver what would have been a painful bite on Saitou's thumb if not for the gauntlet.  Saitou chuckled again and kicked Horse into motion.

***

            'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' Yahiko castigated himself roundly.  'Yes, Saitou has some really stupid ideas about going to Aizu to kill the Daimyo; yes, Saitou has an offended Forest Spirit and its pet demon wolf following him; and yes, Saitou ties a wicked knot.  But a least he wasn't going kill you outright.  Well, that sword throwing habit not withstanding.' Yahiko struggled vainly against his bonds, drawing the attention of his latest captors.

            "Why don't you be a good little boy and tell us where Saitou is," a soft and effeminate voice crooned, as a firm hand ruffled his hair, as if petting a dog.  Yahiko glared daggers at his three samurai captors, especially the pretty, scythe-wielding young man wearing the Daimyo's livery, along with cosmetics and a woman's obi tied into an elaborate flower around his waist, who appeared to be their leader.  Glaring was all that he could do, however, since he was tied to a pole in the middle of the village.

            "Saitou?  Hmmm, a tall, yellow-eyed man in a black cloak, riding a big, black horse named Horse?  I've no idea who you are talking about," Yahiko said, blinking innocently, "and don't call me little boy, you freak!"  The hand petting his head suddenly tightened its grip painfully in his hair, causing Yahiko to squirm.

"I see that you've made the mistake of underestimating me because of the way I dress, little boy," the young man's voice roughened into masculine tones.  "Better men than you have done so.  They're all dead," the cross-dresser added, giggling like a little girl, and letting Yahiko's hair go.   "I am Honjou Kamatari, and I would remind you that Lord Shibumi esteems me so highly that my rank is right below Uonuma Usui's.  When I kill Saitou and bring you in, I'll probably get dear Usui's job.  So I would suggest that you keep a civil tongue," Kamatari said as he tapped Yahiko on the nose.  Yahiko turned his head away.  "It really doesn't matter if you don't tell me where he is, you know.  If I know anything about our darling Hajime, it's that he can't stand to be outwitted.  I'm sure he's on your trail even as we speak.  All my men and I have to do is sit right here and wait for him to find _you_."

It had been a mistake for Yahiko to leave the forest.  And stopping at that village pub had to have been among the most idiotic things he had done in his life.  Of course some of Shibumi's men had been there; of course the local townspeople had helped the soldiers catch him; before they themselves had been forced to abandon their own village.  Yahiko really hoped that this Kamatari creature was wrong about Saitou, but a feeling in his gut told him that Kamatari would be proven right.  _It's your destiny to help me, you know, _Saitou had said, and somehow, Yahiko believed him.

The sun was well past the mid-point of heaven when Saitou finally rode over the hill into the village.  Yahiko watched as Saitou slid gracefully from his saddle, his amber eyes narrowed in calculation as his gaze swept across the village square.  Kamatari stood beside Yahiko's pole, the fingers of one hand threaded through Yahiko's hair, the blade of his scythe in the other at Yahiko's throat.   "Lord Saitou, I'm surprised that it took you this long to get here, we've been waiting for you for _hours_," the cross-dresser simpered.  The other two guards came out of the shadows, one with his sword drawn, the other with his bow nocked.   Saitou raised an eyebrow, and set the eagle to flight without appearing to take his eyes off the painted young man.

"That's an interesting uniform accessory, Honjou Kamatari, very pretty.  I see that Usui was foolish enough to allow you into the guards...I can't say that I'm surprised," Saitou said with a smirk. 

"You really like it?" Kamatari preened.  "Usui _is_ a fool; however, unlike you, he recognizes talent," he began swing the scythe and chain around his head.  "And by the time the rest of the guards get here, I'll be on my way back to Lord Shibumi with your head."  Yahiko flinched into to the pole he was tied to, ducking the wildly spinning blade.  

"I never said you didn't have talent, Kamatari; I said that you would have been a disruptive force among the guards," Saitou answered coolly, his thumb on the hilt of his katana, readying it to draw.

"And you don't think that your pretty little _pet_ wasn't a disruption?  Everybody, even Lord Shibumi himself, wanted a piece of that…" Saitou's sword was unsheathed quicker than the eye could see, as he rolled and stabbed the sword-bearing guard who was using Kamatari's words as a cover to sneak up on him.  He pulled his sword out of his surprised victim, rolling under the arc of Kamatari's swinging scythe a mere fraction too late, the scythe-blade slicing into his right shoulder; his blood splattering on Yahiko's stolen clothes.  The bow-wielding guard, moving around the two combatants, stopped in front of Yahiko, pulling the string of his bow taunt, but was unable to shoot without a clear target.  

Saitou rolled to a semi-crouched position, appearing to ignore his wound, with his back to the guard, and whistled for the eagle, all without taking his eyes off of Kamatari, who was still carving the air with his scythe.  Yahiko kicked the honorless guard in the back of his knee as he released the arrow meant for Saitou's back.  The boy thief watched in fascinated horror as the arrow flew over the heads of both Saitou and Kamatari and into the body of the eagle, which screamed and fell into a struggling glide to the earth.  At the same moment the eagle screamed its pain, Saitou threw his sword at the painted young man, stabbing him unerringly through his heart, causing him to sag slowly to the ground, his weapon rolling from his suddenly nerveless hands.  Saitou turned before his sword had reached its destination, throwing a knife that had been concealed in his sash, catching the treacherous guard in the throat.  He then ran over to his bird, stepping on, and breaking, Kamatari's scythe's pole in the process.

"Easy, you'll be all right," Saitou crooned tenderly to the weakly flapping bird as he knelt by its side.  Yahiko could only watch them with guilty tears in his eyes.  "Don't be afraid, it's all right."  Saitou took off his black cloak and covered the bird with it, picking it up as gently as possible.  "You'll be fine… you'll live… it would take more than a silly arrow to kill something as stubborn as you," the warrior said, his tone seemed to be more to reassure himself than the bird.  He eyed the position of the sun as he passed Kamatari's still twitching body, yanking his sword out and smoothly flicking the blood from the blade.  He stalked over to Yahiko's pole; Yahiko flinched involuntarily as the sword cut through his bonds.

"I'm so sorry," Yahiko began only to be cut off by Saitou's narrow glare.

"Apologies won't help now, boy.  I was hoping to avoid involving _him_ directly," Saitou murmured, seeming to struggle a bit with his thoughts. The eagle cheeped plaintively, and the warrior shook his head.  "I need you to take the eagle, get on Horse and follow this road.  There is a ruined Buddhist monastery ahead; a wanderer named Himura Kenshin is there.  Give him the eagle; he'll know what to do.  I'll stay here and distract whatever guards are coming."

"But Saitou, the eagle is done for."  Yahiko didn't see the backhanded slap that knocked him to his knees.

"Don't you dare say that!" Saitou growled.  "Don't even think it!  You _will_ get on Horse, and you _will_ get the eagle to Himura before sunset.  Am I making myself clear?"  Yahiko, looking at the warrior with real fear for the first time, could only nod.  Saitou helped the boy up, and held the horse's reins while Yahiko mounted; then he gently handed the injured bird to the boy.  "Careful.  And know this – if you fail, I will follow you for as long as you live.  And I _will_ find you."  He left the rest of the threat unspoken.  He slapped the stallion's rump, sending him into a gallop.  Yahiko looked back only once:  Saitou knelt on the ground, the point of his sword buried in the earth, his hands on the hilt, watching the sun.

***

The sun was fast sliding down to the earth when Yahiko finally reached the monastery.  "There it is," he said to the bird, which was hissing in pain, and had tried to bite him several times during the trip.  "Ingrate!  If I weren't afraid of Saitou, I'd finish you off and eat you myself."  He rode through the ruined gates, screaming at the top his lungs:  "Oi, oi, is anyone home?  I was told to bring you this injured bird."

"Really?  Is it big enough to feed two?" a light, tenor voice came from one of windows above.  Yahiko shaded his eyes against the setting sun, trying to see the speaker.

"We can't eat this bird!" he squeaked.  "Saitou would kill me!"

"Saitou Hajime?" the voice asked, sounding startled.

"Yes, Saitou Hajime!  Tall, scary man, yellow eyes, rides a black horse named Horse."

"Well why didn't you say so in the first place?  Hurry, bring him in."  Yahiko slid gracelessly from the saddle and ran into the building with the eagle.  A breathless, short man with long, unusually red hair and a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek met him near a rickety stairwell.  "Give him to me…gently…. My travel bag and a pot of hot water are in the first room to your left.  Get them and follow me."  Yahiko did as he was told as the redhead ran up the stairs and into another room.  He watched from the doorway as the red haired man placed the eagle in the center of what must have been his own bed.  

"Saitou was right to send you here, I know what to do, that I do.  Shhhhhh," the stranger said to bird, using the same crooning tone that Saitou had.  "Don't be frightened, you'll be fine, that you will.  We just have to wait a few minutes, is all."  Yahiko silently handed the stranger the water pot and bag.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, caught up in the urgency the redhead exuded.

"Leave us, for now, that you should," was the unexpected answer as the man gently closed the door in his face.  Dejected, Yahiko started to walk back down the unstable stairs when a deep groan halted his steps.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!  Kenshin…" a deep, gravelly voice, obviously not the redhead's, chanted in pain.  Yahiko, eyes wide, returned quietly to the door of the bedroom and knelt, placing his eye to a crack.  What he saw in the quickly fading light of the already set sun nearly made him shit himself:  gone was Saitou's eagle; in it's place, lying beneath Saitou's black cloak, was the familiar form of the brown haired Forest Spirit who had been following them.  Yahiko noticed that he had the eagle's red, tasseled jesses woven through his fingers, and that an arrow had entered his body through his right armpit, exiting near his neck.

  Off in the distance, a wolf howled.


	6. Chapter five

Yahiko sat down heavily without taking his eye off the crack in the door. The redhead was making the injured young man drink something vile, if the sputters and curses were any indication.  
  
"Gah! Kenshin, what the hell was in that shit?" The redhead gave him an amused look as he easily kept the brown haired man pinned to the bed with a hand to his chest.  
  
"Calm down Sano, it was just something to make you sleep, that it was." Sano didn't look like he was calming down in the least bit to Yahiko. He winced as he batted at Kenshin's hand.  
  
"I'm not a child, anymore; you don't need to coddle me. Just take the damned thing out, already!" Kenshin raised a thin red eyebrow at the outburst.  
  
"I know you are not a child, Sanosuke. But it hurts me to see you in such pain, that it does. Just close your eyes, and relax, and soon you won't feel a thing. I promise." Sano heaved a big sigh and had the grace to look guilty.  
  
"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Kenshin," he said, yawning widely. "It just hurts." Yahiko watched as Sano's eyes slowly closed and his head drooped to the side as whatever drug Kenshin had given him began to work. Kenshin sighed as he tenderly stroked the wild brown hair from the young man's face.  
  
The redhead began taking things out of his travel bag and lining them up on the bed. He cut cloth, mixed powders, and finally, after checking to see that his patient was truly asleep, he snapped the wickedly barbed arrowhead off and pulled the shaft from Sanosuke's body. He packed the resultant wounds with the powders and wrapped Sano's shoulder tightly with the makeshift bandages. Sitting back on his heels, Kenshin caressed the sleeping young man's cheek, and without raising his eyes, said: "It is not polite to eavesdrop, that it is not." Yahiko let out a screech as he scooted away from the door, which opened to reveal a very tired looking Kenshin. "What's your name?"  
  
"Yahiko...Myojin Yahiko. What the hell is going on here? Who are you? Where's Saitou's eagle?" questions tumbled from Yahiko's mouth without thought. Kenshin raised his hand to stem the tide.  
  
"My name is Himura Kenshin; and you, Myojin Yahiko, have now become a character in a tragic story," the redhead said as he slowly walked down the rickety steps. Yahiko followed him down to the room from which he had grabbed the travel bag and water. Kenshin motioned for him to sit at the table, and began cutting his meager meal in half.  
  
"What do you mean?" Yahiko asked as he accepted the scrap of fish. The wolf howled again, much closer this time, and Yahiko's eyes widened in realization. "If Sanosuke is really the eagle, than that means the wolf is..." he trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud. Kenshin sat and poured sake into the only cup, which he pushed in front of Yahiko.  
  
"Drink," he ordered the youngster, "maybe if you forget what you've seen, you'll be able to escape this doom." Yahiko looked deeply into the cup of sake before pushing it back to Kenshin.  
  
"No. I want to know what's going on," Yahiko said quietly. Kenshin frowned.  
  
"Very well then," Kenshin sighed. "Remember, you had your chance, that you did, and now whether you like it or not, you are as lost in this story as the rest of us.  
  
"I remember, the first time I saw Sanosuke," Kenshin said with a wistful smile. "Lord Okubo was Daimyo of Aizu, and I was his major domo and personal body guard."  
  
"You were a body guard?" Yahiko asked incredulously, eyeing the short, frail looking, and mild-mannered man. Kenshin snorted.  
  
"Looks can be deceiving, Yahiko, that they can. Anyway, seven years ago, when he was twelve years old, Higashidani Sanosuke was brought to Aizu by his uncle, Sagara Souzou, an official sent by the Shogun to oversee Aizu's rice harvest. Sano's immediate family had died in the cholera epidemic of the year before, and Sagara was the only family he had left.  
  
"Even at that age, everyone could tell that the boy would grow up to be striking; what no one counted on was that he would be charming as well. His was a truly open personality: he talked to peasants as easily as he talked to nobility, and he had friends everywhere. He was the type of person who could talk you into doing things you knew were wrong or stupid, and then would take the blame if you got caught. Speculation and bets soon flourished among the men of the palace as to whom the boy would choose to initiate him into bi-do, the Beautiful Way. I think that we all tried to attract his attention in subtle ways, but he remained almost willfully oblivious to any attempt to catch his notice. However, because he used to come to the palace a lot during his uncle's business, it was almost universally decided that I had the best chance of being his choice."  
  
"Bi-do?" Yahiko asked.  
  
"The 'Love of the Samurai'? It has many names, that it does; and it is the very best thing that we can aspire to, that it is," Kenshin said with a small smile for the boy. "Now, where was I? Oh yes. I think that the only person not charmed by the boy had to have been Saitou Hajime, the captain of Aizu's guard, and Lord Okubo's most trusted military advisor. Saitou was in charge of training all of the young people of Aizu in combat readiness, and while Sano was an excellent fighter, he was also an instinctual one. He didn't learn by repetition and years of practice like most people, but by intuition. Because of this, he was almost absolutely hopeless at defending himself. Whenever he came to the palace, I used to have to listen to Sano complain about how nothing he did ever pleased Saitou; it was a well known fact throughout the palace that Saitou and Sano did not get along. I used to tease them both about their relationship, because while it was true that they couldn't seem to get along, there was always a grudging respect between them.  
  
"Although Lord Okubo was a good Daimyo who was beloved by his people, he was an old man who had outlived his heirs. He had no sons to inherit, so, when he died, five years after Sagara Souzou and Sanosuke arrived in Aizu, Shibumi, his nephew by marriage was appointed by the Shogun to be Aizu's Daimyo." Yahiko watched as a hardness covered the features of the redheaded wanderer; making the boy almost believe that Himura could have been dangerous enough to be a Daimyo's bodyguard.  
  
"Some people should never be placed in power: Shibumi is such a one, that he is. He came to Aizu from the Emperor's court in Heian-kyo; a decadent aristocrat with no real experience in leading people or taking care of the land, and a completely skewed idea of what his rights and privileges were. Soon after his arrival in Aizu, Shibumi called Sagara Souzou into a meeting about how many koku of rice Aizu produced, and how many men it meant that he would have to present to the Shogun's army. It was at this time that he saw Sanosuke for the first time and conceived a grand passion for him.  
  
"Shibumi began courting the boy openly, going against all the traditions of bi-do. He sent the boy unsubtle letters and poetry, which Sano rightly sent back without replying; there was something about Shibumi that even Sanosuke, who liked almost everyone, didn't like. Sano began actively staying away from the palace, in order to avoid the man. However, his refusals of Shibumi's advances only seemed to make the Daimyo more determined. Shibumi's passion became an obsession. He vowed that Sanosuke would become his lover by any means possible; and he kept that vow."  
  
"First, Souzou died in an 'accident' while riding out to a farm; thus Higashidani Sanosuke became Sagara Sanosuke, and had to return to the palace in order to take up his uncle's duties. Then, his friends were harassed. Commoners and nobility alike were hurt or put into jail for no reason. Soon after that, one of the common boys that Sano gambled with was killed. In order to save his friends from any more grief, Sano gave in and became Shibumi's lover."  
  
"What?!" Yahiko interrupted, indignant on Sanosuke's behalf. "Shibumi blackmailed him?" Kenshin nodded. "That's rape!"  
  
"Yes, it was. Shibumi crowed his triumph to any who would listen, and at first, we were all happy that Sano had a lover of a status worthy of him. Sano didn't tell anyone what was being done to him out of fear for the lives of his friends, so those of us who loved him could do nothing to help him. However, we all noticed that something was wrong with him. It was like someone had put out the sun. Sano went from being an open, boisterous person to someone who was withdrawn and quiet."  
  
"Where does Saitou come into this?" Yahiko asked impulsively. Kenshin raised a red eyebrow at him and Yahiko blushed.  
  
"I was just getting to that part," Kenshin answered. "Slowly Shibumi had been replacing the administrators of Aizu with his cronies and sycophants. Unfortunately for him, Saitou's position of military advisor and Captain of the Guard made it almost impossible for Shibumi to get rid of him, and Shibumi hated him for this. Not only did Shibumi hate Saitou, but he was afraid of him as well, because Saitou, even though he is not noble born, is everything that Shibumi is not: uncompromisingly honorable, unhesitating, and superior in his actions.  
  
"All of Sano's friends were worried about him, but it was Saitou Hajime who figured out what was going on with the boy. Sano, who was at best an indifferent martial student, actually began paying attention to Saitou when he tried to teach him defense. Sano also asked Saitou about his philosophy of Aku. Soku. Zan. When Saitou asked him why, Sano put him off. Curious, Saitou then began investigating the activities of Sano and his friends, and discovered the truth.  
  
"Saitou confronted Sano with his discovery, and Sano, in order to protect his friends, forced him to promise not to tell anyone. Saitou was now faced with a dilemma. What Shibumi had done to Sanosuke was truly evil, and according to the code of Aku. Soku. Zan., he should be killed immediately; but Shibumi was also the truly appointed Daimyo of Aizu, to whom absolute loyalty was owed. Saitou secretly gathered evidence about the murder of Sagara Souzou, and planned to take his predicament to the Shogun himself. He told Sano what he planned to do, and Sano begged to come with him. It seems that Saitou was not immune to Sano's charm after all: he decided to take Sanosuke with him.  
  
"Sano was happy to be leaving Aizu, but sad to be leaving his friends behind. The morning that they left, Sano told me that he was leaving, but not where he was going, and not why. I was still unaware of his...quandary; while I was sad that he was leaving, I wished him luck and happiness as we said goodbye, and I didn't think anymore of it until Shibumi came to me looking for him. When I told him that Sano had left with Saitou, Shibumi seemed to go insane! Maybe he thought that Sano was cheating on him; I'm not sure, but I know that he swore right then and there that Sano was his alone. He then did something so unthinkably reckless that even now, two years later, I can barely force myself to believe it." Kenshin paused in his story, a far away, frightened look in his eyes.  
  
"What did he do?" Yahiko whispered.  
  
"He summoned Aizu's Oni: the demon that watches over the city," Kenshin actually shuddered. "Shibumi must have figured out that Saitou had found out what he had done to Sanosuke, and he knew that Saitou would only move if he had evidence against him. So in his frustration and fury, he struck a bargain with the Oni, and the Oni spat out a terrible curse: for as long as the sun rises once a day and sets once a day, for as long as they both shall live: by day Sanosuke is the eagle, and by night Saitou is the wolf. Bound together eternally, apart for always.  
  
"If Saitou and Sano had been beyond Aizu's borders, the curse wouldn't have been effective; however, they were not. And so, you have seen the Oni's curse at work." Kenshin picked up the cup of sake and drained it. Yahiko watched him with a horrified fascination. The wolf howled again, extremely close to the monastery now.  
  
"Do they know?"  
  
"Do they know what?"  
  
"That you were the one who told Shibumi?" Kenshin turned his eyes down.  
  
"Yes, they do," he said quietly. "After what I'd seen, I could no longer work for Shibumi. I escaped Aizu in secret, and soon found Saitou and told him everything that I'd seen, and he told me part of the tale that I've just told you. I began wandering the country, looking for ways to circumvent the curse, while Saitou took Sano into hiding. You see, one of the ways the curse can be broken is for one of them to die, and Shibumi has never stopped trying to kill Saitou."  
  
"There's another way to break the curse?"  
  
"Yes, I believe I've found a way, but it will be difficult..." Kenshin's words trailed off as the black wolf padded quietly past the door of the room, and began limping up the steps. Yahiko and Kenshin trailed the wolf up the stairs, and watched from the doorway as he hobbled onto the futon, sniffed Sanosuke's shoulder, and curled himself into the hollow of Sano's body. The young man sighed in his sleep and put his injured arm around the wolf.  
  
***  
  
The scar-faced hunter, Arundo Akamatsu sat in a country inn, drinking bitter sake, and cursing his fate. "Stupid Shibumi, and his stupid descriptions. A wolf is a wolf," he murmured drunkenly. "This stupid hunt had better be worth my time or I'll...." He stopped himself from saying anything against the Daimyo by downing the rest of the sake in one gulp; even this far from the city, one never knew when someone might be listening. He turned his bleary eyes around the inn one last time, and not seeing anyone with brown hair and eyes, he stood up and left without paying. Once outside, he looked over his wagon full of pelts, making sure none were missing, before climbing on. He gave his horse a stinging whip on the rump and they were quickly away into the dark, cold night. 


	7. Chapter six

Sanosuke awoke with the sounds of growls in his ears, which was not unusual.  The sounds of cursing and furniture scraping the floor, and objects hitting the ground were not really unusual either.  Even the cries of "Orororo," were not _that_ unusual; all of the sounds together, however, made his eyes snap open.  "You are hurt, that you are," Kenshin's light tenor voice reached his ears.  "We are just trying to help…Yahiko, see if you can herd him into that corner…Oro!" Sano rolled over with a groan to see Kenshin and Yahiko both waving blankets at the snapping and snarling wolf.

"Hey!" he shouted, glaring around the room as he sat up, groaning again.  Sudden quiet descended upon the room as three pairs of eyes turned to him.  "Don't you two know that cornering a wolf is a good way to get your throats torn out?  And you, Hajime!" he said turning a particularly devastating glare toward the wolf.  "You know you're not going to bite them, so just stop that noise right now."  Three pairs of now sheepish gazes watched as Sano lay back down.  "Now, what seems to be the problem here?" he asked calmly.

"He was hurt fighting Kamatari, today," Yahiko said, pointing to the wolf.  "We just wanted to see if there was anything we could do to help treat the wound."  Kenshin nodded his agreement.

"You were hurt?" Sano asked Saitou pointedly, his voice rising; the wolf heaved a long-suffering sigh.  "Did you ask politely to help him?"  Sano asked Kenshin, whose eyes widened comically at the thought of asking a wolf anything.  "Gods…when did I become the adult here?"  Yahiko giggled.

"It was bound to happen eventually Sano, that it was," Kenshin said, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"Hey, I think I've just been insulted," Sanosuke said sulking.  The wolf snorted in what could only be derision, drawing everyone's attention to him again.

"Saitou, I apologize, that I do.  Sano is right; I should have asked your permission.  May I look at your wound?" Kenshin asked the wolf solemnly.  Saitou cocked his head in thought, growled softly, and then turned his back on the redhead, limping over to sit by Sano's bed.  Sanosuke gasped.

"Damn it Hajime, he's trying to help.  You're being a complete bastard…" he started sitting up again, but Kenshin placed a hand on his chest forcing him down.

"Sano, it's alright.  I don't think that Saitou has quite forgiven me yet; have you, Saitou?"  The wolf looked over his shoulder at the wanderer.

"But he knows it wasn't your fault, Kenshin.  You couldn't have known," Sano said quietly.

"But I should have known, Sano.  I was your friend; I should have known…  Saitou, will you at least let Yahiko look at your shoulder?" the wanderer asked the wolf.  Saitou huffed but didn't reject the idea outright.  Yahiko looked stricken.

"But I don't know anything about medicine," Yahiko said, slowly backing away from the wolf.  Kenshin raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry, I'll be here to tell you everything you need to know, that I will."

"But I don't know anything about wolves…" Yahiko whined.  Crisis averted, Sanosuke dozed off again, only to be awakened some time later by Saitou putting his cold, wet nose into his ear.

"Go away," Sano mumbled without opening his eyes.  He was vaguely aware of Kenshin and Yahiko leaving the room.  "I'm not talking to you."  Saitou began licking at his lips.  "No, you were totally rude to Kenshin; it was totally uncalled for.  You can just go sleep on the floor."  Saitou scratched at the coverlet, trying to get in.  "Ha," Sano said rolling over unto his side.  The wolf straddled the boy and started nipping at his pointed chin.  "Oi! Biting is NOT fair…fine," Sano raised the covers and let the wolf scramble in.  "But I'm still not talking to you," he said as Saitou turned a couple of times to find exactly the spot he wanted and fitted himself into Sano's body.  Warm and comfortable, they were both asleep within a few moments.

***

"Ugh," Yahiko winced as the redhead examined his injured hand.  "Whether he's a wolf or a man, he's a total ass."  Kenshin chuckled low in his throat.

"That's not exactly fair, Yahiko.  You did hurt him, that you did."

"I was trying to help him!  And I told you I didn't know anything about wolves!"

"He didn't bite you that hard; he didn't even break the skin, that he didn't," Kenshin showed the boy his hand before rubbing some foul smelling concoction on the bruise.  "I think he was just trying to get you to quit, that I do."

"Why are you defending him?" Yahiko asked.  "He was especially rude to you."  Kenshin shook his head.

"Saitou and I have never been friends, Yahiko, that we have not.  But we do understand one another.  And I think that we both want what's best for Sanosuke, that I do.  I'm willing to put up with his 'total assedness' for Sano's sake, that I am."  

" 'Assedness?'  Is that really a word?" Yahiko laughed.  Kenshin laughed with him.

"It is now, that it is.  Go to sleep, now, Yahiko," Kenshin said as he got up to leave the boy.

"Goodnight, Kenshin."

***

Usui dismissed the guard at Shibumi's bedroom door with a curt nod.  He pushed the shoji screen aside quietly, walking into the room insolently.  His audacity didn't matter:  his Eye of the Heart told him that the Daimyo was too _busy_ with _other_ pursuits to notice him.  However, the Daimyo's night companion looked up at him from the futon and whimpered, his blood rushing through his body in pain as well as embarrassment.  Usui smirked as Shibumi responded to the sound by petting the bound and gagged boy like a cat.  

Usui didn't bother to hide the sneer in his voice as he made Shibumi aware of his presence.  "I'm sure the samurai who taught you hojojutsu would be ashamed at how you are abusing his art.  Or did you get one of my men, Moriyama perhaps, to tie your little boy toy up for you?"   Shibumi startled away from the boy, sitting up straight and holding the blanket to his chest like a virgin, completely ignoring the groaning young man beside him; his racing heart and mortification proclaiming to Usui's Eye of the Heart that the second guess was the true one.  Usui hid his smirk by bowing.  It was against honor to teach the art of binding to one not a samurai, and Shibumi, his nobility notwithstanding, had never been a warrior.

"I left orders that I was not to be disturbed tonight," Shibumi growled at this Captain of the Guards.  "Tell me Usui, why shouldn't I have you killed and replaced?"  Usui debated whether he should continue to taunt the Daimyo, but decided that the news he carried was much too important to indulge in petty gamesmanship.

 "Forgive me, My Lord, but there is news."  

"Kamatari is back?" Shibumi asked eagerly.  Usui frowned slightly at the Daimyo's single-mindedness, before smirking again.  

"No my Lord, Kamatari has not returned as of yet," he said evenly.  As if his cross-dressing rival could actually kill Saitou, he thought with a small grin.  Sending Kamatari after the former Captain of the Guards had been a stroke of genius on his part, since it got rid of his main rival without him having to dirty his hands.

"Then why the hell are you disturbing me this time?" Shibumi snarled in a futile effort to hide his embarrassment from Usui.  The blind captain decided to get directly to the heart of the matter.

"We've just received a messenger pigeon from the Shogun.  He'll be in Aizu by the end of the week.  It seems that there is some discrepancy with the rice harvest and the number of men that Aizu has sent for the Emperor's Armies, and he is coming to discuss this with you _personally_."

"Damn it!" the Daimyo cursed as he stood, wrapping the blanket around his body.  "He must suspect…Usui, go wait for me in my study.  I'll join you there shortly.  I have some _business_ here that I need to take care of," he said with a pointed look at his bound companion, who was watching them with wide fearful eyes.  "Oh, and have the one guarding my door tonight publicly flogged for disobeying my orders." 

Usui bowed himself out of the room.  Shibumi's appetite for cruelty was becoming legendary in Aizu.  He almost felt sorry for the guard and the doomed boy.  The guard had only obeyed an order from his superior officer.  As for the Daimyo's…_lover_, not only had he the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, hearing things not meant for his ears, but he was also not who the Daimyo really wanted.  Usui's nose wrinkled in a frown as he made his way to the study.  He knew that Shibumi would soon be sending him to find another toy to play with.

***

Neither the soft early morning light filtered through snow flurries nor the dark blue peasants' kimono did anything to soften the harsh planes of Saitou's face as he watched Sanosuke, the tips of his wings trailing in the water, skim over the lake that backed the monastery.  "I thought that you might have been dead, Himura," he said without looking at the wanderer.  "There were times I wanted to kill you myself.  But I am very grateful…for that," he said, tilting his chin toward the lake, as the eagle caught the fish that he was after, and soared back into the air.  "You said in your message that you thought you had found a way to break the curse." 

"Yes; that is, there is a chance for the curse to be broken, if the conditions are right," Kenshin said softly, his eyes also on the eagle.  Saitou noticed that Himura's extremely polite speech pattern had disappeared.

"Well, what have you found?"

"Empress Suiko ruled Japan for thirty-six years.  Her reign saw the writing of the seventeen-article constitution and the promotion of Buddhism. This monastery itself dates back to her reforms.  During her reign, China diplomatically recognized the country for the first time, and according to the histories, there was a flowering of culture unlike any that had preceded her reign or since."

"This ancient history lesson is extremely fascinating, but what does this have to do with the here and now?"  Saitou said in a mocking tone of voice.

"She was an important person, Saitou; so important that when she died, an Oni hid the sun to announce her death to the whole of Japan.  On that day, there were two dawns, and two nightfalls…" Kenshin's voice trailed off.

"Hn.  So it is possible for the curse to be broken.  We just have to wait for the death of an important person?"

"No.  I wouldn't have called you here if that were the case.  I've met with a traveling Chinese scholar, an astronomer, and he assures me that in four days time, a day with two dawns and two nights will occur.  If you and Sanosuke can face Shibumi in Aizu as human beings on that day, the curse will end," Kenshin said quietly.  Saitou narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Where's the catch, Himura? You said 'if'."  Kenshin sighed and ran a nervous hand through his bangs.

"I didn't tell you this before, because at the time, it seemed impossible that we would be able to meet the first condition to break the curse.  But now…"

"There was a second condition?" Saitou growled, his hand unconsciously reaching for his absent sword.

"Yes, there was.  On the day of the eclipse, in order for you to both be human at the same time, you must truly love each other," Kenshin whispered.  Saitou's hands tightened into fists.  "I know that you love him, Saitou.  Your actions yesterday prove it.  If you had let Sano die, then the curse would have been broken.  You would have been free.  It is Sano's feelings toward you that I'm not sure of."

"So.  You lure us here with hope just so you can watch it die.  I'd thought better of you Himura."  Saitou held up his hand and whistled.  The eagle, the lake trout in its beak, swooped down to perch upon the gauntlet.  "Take care of Sanosuke," Saitou growled, handing the bird to Kenshin.  "I'm sure that's what you wanted all along," he pushed his way passed the wanderer and into the building.  

"Where are you going?" Kenshin yelled at his retreating back.

"To Aizu, to kill Shibumi," Saitou said coldly.

"You can't!  The curse will never end if you do that!"  There was no answer but the banging shut of a door, and soon afterwards, the galloping of hooves.

A few moments later, Yahiko, wiping sleep from his eyes, stumbled onto the lanai.  He found Kenshin sitting, holding the eagle by his jesses, tears sliding down his cheeks.


	8. Chapter seven

            "What the hell just happened?" Yahiko asked the wanderer, who appeared to be holding on to the eagle's jesses for dear life as Sano's dark wings buffeted him around the head.  "Where's Saitou going?"

            "Calm down, Sano," Kenshin commanded the eagle weakly, ignoring the boy.  "We won't let him kill Shibumi, that we won't."  The eagle continued to screech at him, but slowly stopped trying to fly off with him.  Yahiko watched the scene with growing trepidation.

            "What do you mean; you won't let him kill Shibumi?  Wasn't that the plan, to kill the Daimyo, something about Aku. Soku. Zan.  But I don't understand why Saitou would just leave Sano here."  Yahiko watched as Kenshin's eyes widened in realization.

"He left even after I told him that killing Shibumi would mean that the curse couldn't be broken.  He told me to take care of Sano…He means to sacrifice himself as well as kill Shibumi.  Stupid Saitou, that won't work!  If he dies without killing the Daimyo, then Sano's still in danger, and even if he does kill Shibumi and then dies, the curse won't be broken," Kenshin said more to himself, and to the absent man, than Yahiko as he paced passed the boy back into the monastery. 

"What's going on?" Yahiko shouted at Kenshin's back.

"I don't have time to explain, that I don't.  But we have to stop Saitou from making a big mistake, that we do."  Yahiko walked back into the monastery from the porch in time to see Kenshin hurriedly packing up his meager belongings.

"How are we going to stop him?" Yahiko asked.  "He's on his horse." 

"He has to go back to pick up his sword and clothes, that he does.  We, on the other hand, will be able to head straight for Aizu; plus, we'll be able to travel at night." Kenshin said as he stowed away his cooking pot.  "We should be able to catch up with him before he gets to the city, that we should.  But we'll need to hurry.  Go put out the fire, Yahiko.  We're leaving in a few minutes."  Yahiko rushed to do as he was told, wondering all the while why he had let himself become entwined in this mad adventure.  He had to tell himself that helping Saitou and Sanosuke achieve their justice would also be justice for his own family.  Task finished, he came back into the main hall in time to see Sano reluctantly hop onto Kenshin's gauntleted fist.  "Let's go," Kenshin said quietly.

The sun came out as the day wore on, melting the little snow that had accumulated on the ground, rendering the main road to Aizu little more than a muddy track.  Sometime after noon, Kenshin led them off the road and into the woods on a more direct path to the city.  "I sure hope you know what you're doing," Yahiko grumbled as he picked himself up off the forest floor after stumbling over a hidden branch.  

"Of course I do," Kenshin said as he helped the boy thief to his feet.  "I've wandered all over Japan for the last two years, that I have.  Trust me."  Yahiko scowled, but kept his complaints to himself.  In order to make the day go faster, Yahiko pestered Kenshin into teaching him some very basic hand fighting techniques, saying that all good samurai knew several of the martial arts.

"There is a stream nearby," Kenshin said tiredly as the sun was sliding towards the horizon.  "We will rest here for a little while, that we will."  Yahiko could only nod in agreement.  "You go get a little firewood, and I'll make camp," Kenshin suggested.  Yahiko watched as Sano hopped from the gauntlet and glided to a nearby log before going into the woods for kindling.  Dusk had gathered over the forest when he returned to the small clearing.

"Why did Hajime leave, Kenshin?  What did you say to him?"  Yahiko heard Sano ask.  He snuck to a nearby tree to watch unseen as Kenshin finally answered the questions that he himself had asked earlier.

Sano still sat on the same log that he had landed on, wrapped in a blanket, and hugging his knees.  The fading light of the early evening made him appear very young to Yahiko.  Kenshin seemed to be absorbed in digging through his pack for something.  

"I think that this will do," Kenshin said, holding up a dark kimono in the dying light.  "It will be a little short on you, that it will, but…." Sano cut him off.

"Don't dodge the question Kenshin.  What did you say to him?" Sano practically shouted at the wanderer.  Kenshin lowered the kimono and his eyes.

"Sano," he said plaintively, looking at his friend.  Whatever he saw made him sigh.  "I told him that the day with two sunrises and two sunsets was upon us, that I did," he said quietly.  Sano sat up straight.

"But that's good news!  Why would he…"

"Because, there is a second condition to the curse that I hadn't told you about… Sanosuke, what are your feelings toward Saitou?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you love him?"

"I - I don't know," Sano said hesitantly.  "Why?  What does that have to do with anything?"  Kenshin sighed again.

"Because it's part of the second condition, Sano," his voice was so low that Yahiko had to strain to hear it.  The light was almost gone now.

"Why didn't you tell us this in the beginning?" Sano asked roughly, standing and clutching the blanket around himself.  Kenshin looked up at him.

"Because the first condition was impossible enough without adding the second… Sano, where are you going?"  Sano had started walking towards the woods.

"I need to think, Kenshin," he said crossly, without looking back at his friend.

"But what about clothes, you'll freeze," Kenshin told Sano's blanket wrapped back.

"I'll be back," Sano said as he disappeared into the woods.  Kenshin stared at the limp kimono in his hands for a few minutes.

"You can come out now, Yahiko, that you can," he said, looking right at Yahiko's hiding spot.  Yahiko started guiltily, then stepped out from behind the tree.  "This eavesdropping habit of yours is unbecoming, that it is."  Yahiko walked into the little clearing and began setting up the wood for a small fire.

"I just thought that you'd like some privacy," Yahiko tried to explain.  Kenshin gave him a look that said that though he didn't believe Yahiko, he was going to let it pass.  "What are we going to do now?"

"We are going to eat and rest ourselves by a fire for a few hours, that we are."  Kenshin struck sparks from his flint, and soon had the fire blazing merrily.  After what seemed like an eternity, Sano came back into the clearing, the blanket wrapped around his narrow waist.  He dropped a rabbit at Kenshin's feet.

"I caught it, you cook it," he said, a little of his former humor restored.  Kenshin nodded and smiled tentatively at him.  "You're lucky that I've never killed anyone, Kenshin; you're lucky that I don't want to start with my best friend."  He grabbed up the kimono and turned from the fire, letting the blanket fall to his feet.  The light of the fire highlighted the twigs and leaves in his hair, and the new scratches on his skin as he put on the kimono and tied the obi.  Kenshin said nothing as he skinned and cooked the rabbit; and they ate in silence.  Yahiko yawned into the night as he watched the two friends staring at each other across the fire, neither sure of what to say to the other.

"Oi, you two need to stop worrying about something that happened in the past, and start worrying about what happens when we catch up to Saitou," Yahiko said into the tense silence.  Two pairs of eyes turned his way, and he regretted saying anything.  Sano began laughing.

"I guess between the three of us, we'll just have to beat some sense into him when we find him, huh?" Sano said, still laughing.  Kenshin snorted, and Yahiko rolled on the ground, laughing hard at the image that statement conjured up.

"I'm sorry, Sano," Kenshin said quietly after he stopped laughing.  Sano smiled a half smile, and nodded toward Yahiko.

"It's okay.  The kid's right, Kenshin.  We can't change what happened in the past, and we have other things to worry about in the here and now," he said shrugging.  "Why don't you two take a nap, and I'll wake you in a couple of hours?"  Yahiko felt like he was asleep before his head touched the ground.

Sanosuke shook them awake all too soon for Yahiko's taste.  After dousing the fire, they were soon walking through the clear night.  Sano started at the sound of a wolf howling, but shook his head in bemusement.  "It's not him," he muttered.  Behind him, Kenshin caught Yahiko's eye.  They stopped to rest again as the day dawned brightly.  They dined on leftover rabbit and napped sitting up, the eagle keeping guard over them.  When they awoke, the bright day had disappeared into sullen, heavy bottomed snow clouds.  It began snowing soon after noon.

It was Yahiko who spotted the small village in the dying afternoon light.  "This snow is not letting up," he said to Kenshin.  "We should find shelter," he pointed to toward the little grouping of buildings.  Kenshin nodded his agreement tiredly and they trudged through the shin deep snow into the village.

"The sun is ready to set, that it is," Kenshin murmured.  "Take Sanosuke to that stable so he can change, while I find out if the inn has any rooms."  The wanderer handed Yahiko the eagle and his travel pack, and went into the village proper, while Yahiko and Sano hid in the dark stable to await Sano's transformation.

Yahiko guarded the door, watching the snow as the sun set and Sano became a human being again.  "Oi, Yahiko!"  Sano said excitedly.  Yahiko turned from the door to see a totally naked Sano being lipped by, and hanging onto, a big black horse.  

Yahiko's eyes widened as he recognized Horse.  "He's here?" he said, breathlessly.  Sano nodded happily. 

"Did you miss me, Horse?" the young man murmured, kissing the horse's cheek. He petted his way down Horse's flank, and then went looking through the saddlebag for his clothes.

"I guess that means that tomorrow we get to try to beat some sense into Saitou," Yahiko said in mock despair.  Sano looked over Horse's back at the boy and laughed as he pulled on his pants.

"No, that means that _you_ get to tryto beat some sense into him; I'll be a bird."  Yahiko threw a dried piece of dung at him, which he easily dodged.  

"Hurry up, Feather-Head.  We've gotta tell Kenshin the good news!"

***

True darkness had fallen by the time that Akamatsu, angry, cold and tired, stopped his wagon in a little village for the night.  He had been throughout the prefecture, and was on his way back to Aizu to tell Shibumi: 'Fuck you and your stupid wild goose chase'.  Of course, he had a couple of days traveling to think of a more polite way to say it.  

Akamatsu looked around the nearly deserted village with distaste.  He could remember when this place had been bustling, even in winter, with farmers who were passing through from delivering their shares of rice and buckwheat to Aizu.  Now its only redeeming features were the inn, and the hot springs.  At least he would be warm, and wouldn't have to sleep under the wagon tonight, he thought.

Voices from the direction of the springs broke through his reverie.  "I don't care if you haven't gambled for two years," said a squeaky, irritating voice that had yet to settle into its adult register.  "I worked too hard for that money to let you piss it away on a rigged dice game."  A deeper voice snorted.

"Worked, Yahiko?  Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you steal that purse?"  Akamatsu frowned at the thought of thieves; he seemed to be running into more robbers and highwaymen since Okubo died and Shibumi became the Daimyo.  He tied his nearly empty purse tightly to his obi, and made sure that he took his skinning knife with him as he got down from the wagon.  He watched as the young man and the boy rounded the corner of the inn into the torchlight, still steaming from their sojourn in the hot springs.  "I don't see why you can't lend me a couple…" the young man's deep voice trailed off into a gasp as he caught sight of the hunter and his wagon.

Akamatsu was so accustomed to people fearing his stitch-scarred face and his grisly cargo that he barely noticed the young man in white hurriedly backing away from his wagon, staring at the wolf pelts with an expression of fear.  No, what caught his attention was the companion that the young man almost stepped on in his haste to get away from the wagon.

"Sanosuke!  What the hell is your problem?" the kid yelled, pushing the older boy forward, before noticing Akamatsu's payload and attention.  The hunter's eyes widened as he returned his attention to the young man in white.  Large, unusually brown eyes in an extremely attractive face looked up at him from beneath a thatch of messy brown hair.  This young man was certainly pretty enough, Akamatsu thought, looking the boy up and down again.  He had to be absolutely sure, though.

"Sagara Sanosuke?"  If anything, the young man's fearful eyes widened further, and Akamatsu grinned to himself, the scars on his cheeks and forehead tightening.

"Who the hell are you?" the forgotten little boy asked heatedly, as he began pulling on the older boy's jacket and waving his eating knife at the hunter.  "Leave us the hell alone!  C'mon, Sano."  

"Ooh, you're scaring me, little boy," Akamatsu said, laughing as the kid bristled at the slur.

"Yahiko, go get Kenshin," Sagara said quietly in a surprisingly calm voice, without taking his eyes off the hunter.

"I'm not leaving you here alone with this creep!" the kid said heatedly.  "C'mon, Sano!"  Akamatsu watched as Sagara let the kid drag him to the inn, his eyes never leaving the hunter's.  Akamatsu grinned, giving the young man a mock salute as he and his young companion disappeared into the inn.  The hunter hopped back onto his wagon and drove off into the woods to set some traps, his need for the warmth of the inn forgotten.

***

Sano listened to Yahiko tell Kenshin about their encounter with the hunter with a detached air.  He nodded and said the right things as Kenshin tried to reassure him that Hajime was much too smart for some backwoods hunter to catch.  He laughed as Yahiko got drunk on one cup of cheap sake and tried to tell jokes that he couldn't remember the punch line to.  Later, in their room, he unrolled his futon near the door and lay on it, as the others got ready to sleep.  And as Kenshin and Yahiko's breathing deepened, he snuck out of the inn and into the stable.  He led Horse out into the snowy night, climbed onto his bare back, and kicked him into a gallop in the direction that the hunter had gone.

***

_            Saitou stood suddenly, stretching himself like cat in sunshine, sighing as he took a cigarette out of his case and tamped the end down on the metal._

_"Hey," Sano's raspy voice stopped him from striking a match on his heel, "what the hell do you think you're doing?  Didn't you hear Megumi say that she'd kill you if you smoked in here?"  Saitou looked down at his lover, who was looking up at him through his long fringe of dark lashes.  He noticed that the boy's breathing was still labored, but the fever flush on his cheeks was fading.  Still, Mibu's Wolf thought to himself as he put the unlit cigarette in his mouth, this would be a good time to have Sano take the medicine that Dr. Takani had left.  Saitou quickly began to make the tea._

_"And _I _will kill someone, most likely you, if I don't smoke, Ahou," Saitou answered with a smirk.  Sano pouted at him, but the Rooster knew full well how irrational the older man could be about his one bad habit._

_"Well, if the Fox Woman kills you before the end of the story, I will never, ever forgive you," Sano said petulantly.  "And you can just forget me ever leaving anything for your grave."  Saitou snorted, amused._

_"Ahou.  I can smoke and talk at the same time, you know."_

_"Hn.  Well then, if she kills you, then I won't have anything to live for; and my death will be on your conscious," Sano said smugly._

_"I'll be _dead_, Ahou.  I doubt very highly that I'll be worried about you."  Saitou handed Sano the drugged tea and went to sit by the window to smoke.  Sano looked at the tea cup, then gave Saitou a stricken look.  "Drink every drop," Saitou said, sounding very much like a parent, "or I won't finish."_

_"Blackmailing Bastard," Sano muttered.  Saitou bared his teeth in a feral grin._

_"I can always leave; I really _do_ need to smoke."  Sano sighed, held his nose, and downed the tea in one gulp, looking completely martyred.  Saitou gave him his scary 'pleasant' smile, nodded, and opened the window, lighting his cigarette.  He inhaled deeply, holding the acrid smoke in his lungs until the nicotine rush made him relax.  He exhaled the bitter dregs of smoke out the window.  "Now, where was I?"…_


	9. Chapter eight

            Sano found the wagon, with its dreadful cargo, parked by the side of the main road several miles from the inn.  The huntsman, however, was nowhere to be seen.  Sanosuke surveyed the scene from Horse's back before sliding off.  "Shhh," he told the animal, tying the reins loosely to a nearby tree.  There was the smell of smoke in the cold, snowy air; and Sano, using all of the hunter's grace and silence that he had learned over the past two years, turned to follow that smell deep into the woods.

            Ahead in a clearing, the light from a small fire flickered.  Sano cautiously made his way between the trees toward the clearing, stretching out his senses in order to find the scar-faced man.  Except for the fire, the clearing was empty.  However, Sano could feel eyes upon him as he walked into the open space.  

            "I know you're here," he called into the darkness.  "Who are you?"  He had only walked a couple of steps toward the fire when he heard the sound of something striking metal, and the loud snap of a wicked steel trap shutting at his feet.  He jumped back, only to hear another clink and snap.  Sano took a deep breath, calming the flutter of fear in his stomach as he decided to stand in one place, turning in a circle, trying to find the hunter.

            "Pretty, pretty, Sanosuke," came the hunter's leering voice from somewhere in the darkness.  "My name is Arundo Akamatsu, but all you really need to know is that I'm the best hunter in the prefecture.  Tell me… where is the black wolf?"

 "That's the second time you used that name.  What did Shibumi promise you if you caught this black wolf?" Sano growled, still trying to locate the hunter.  "You do know that he has no honor, right?"

"Oh, I got the impression that the Daimyo wants _this_ wolf badly enough to actually pay me what he promised.  So, beautiful boy, where is he?"

"Like you actually think I'm going to tell you that?  Think again, asshole," Sano said, homing in on the hunter's location.  The man chuckled at him.

"Such language; so unbecoming," the hunter said teasingly.  "You shouldn't be that way, Sanosuke.  It really doesn't matter if you tell me or not; you see, a good trapper can catch almost anything if he uses the right bait.  And you, my pretty, are going to be _my_ bait."  Sano found the scar-faced hunter sitting in a tree, and started toward him, only to be brought up short by another rock hitting another trap in front of his feet.  "I really wouldn't move if I were you.  You never know when you might walk into a trap."

"Come down and face me, you fucking coward!" Sano yelled at the man.  He knew now that his impulsive act had been a mistake, and repressed a shudder as icy fear ran down his spine; the hunter laughed at him again.

***

Kenshin, sitting in a corner of their room sleeping, had heard Sano quietly opening and closing the shoji screen.  He had assumed that his friend was simply taking a trip to the outhouse, and his mind dozed as he waited to hear the young man to come back.  The part of his mind that was always awake, however, noticed the passage of time.  Suddenly, he was wide-awake, replaying Sano's earlier reactions in his mind's eye.  He stretched out his senses, hoping against hope that what he feared wasn't true.  "Yahiko, wake up!  Sano's gone!" Kenshin said as he shook the small thief awake.

***

Saitou raised his head, tasting the wind in his nose and on his tongue.  At first, the scent was faint, ghostly, and could almost be dismissed as a symptom of his longing for his pack mate.  However, a freshening breeze brought new evidence that, indeed, _he _was near.  The black wolf sat on his haunches and pondered his next action.  Did he really want to see _him _again?  Of course he did.  However, would seeing _him _again weaken his resolve to do what was necessary to serve his sense of justice?  Most likely.  He decided that it would be best to ignore the tantalizingly familiar scent of his pack mate and to continue with his hunt.  Thus, it was surprising to Saitou when he found himself loping into the wind, following his pack mate'sscent.

***

Sanosuke glared at the hunter, silently cursing himself for his thick headedness.  What exactly had he planned to do when he found the hunter?  Talk to the man?  Try to convince him to leave Saitou alone?  Obviously the man was unwilling to be convinced.

The sound of a small animal crashing through the undergrowth caught his attention, and he watched, horrified, as an unwary fox ran into one of the traps that ringed the clearing.  Its death scream abruptly cut off as it died; its back broken.  The hunter laughed cruelly at Sano's reaction.

"That was relatively painless.  I've seen animals that were unfortunate enough to only get their leg caught gnaw off feet to escape.  It's a terrible way to die.  Maybe you should start praying that your wolf doesn't suffer the same fate."

"Bastard," Sano spat helplessly, frowning as he watched the still twitching carcass of the fox.  He'd be damned if he was going to let Saitou suffer at all.  As if thinking the man's name had conjured him up, Sano felt more than heard a familiar howl close by.  And although he tried not to show any reaction, the hunter seemed to know that his prey was near, and smirked down at Sanosuke from his perch.

***

Saitou found his pack mate in a small forest clearing, near a fire.  There was something wrong, however:  the scents of anger and fear and death reaching his nose, along with the smell of a stranger, caused his hackles to rise.  Instead of bounding into the clearing and jumping on the boy as he wanted to do, he crouched low and inched his way slowly toward his pack mate; keeping a wary eye out for this stranger that caused fear.  He gave a low growl to announce his presence, and was rewarded when the boy found his hiding place.  The smell of fear, as well as the feeling of danger, increased.

"Go away," Sanosuke hissed.  "I don't need you here."  The wolf paused in his tracks.  He sensed a danger that made every hair along his spine stand up; of course his pack needed him here; he was, after all, the boy's protector; and there was the matter of this stranger he smelled...   He started forward again, only to be yelled at.  "No!  Stay the hell away from me!"  The wolf stopped again, sat down, and cocked his head at the boy.  What sort of nonsense was this?  Perhaps his pack mate was angry that he had been left behind?  If so, the wolf was prepared to make it up to him.  He didn't get further chance to puzzle out his companion's odd behavior; a well-thrown rock, hitting his shoulder, disrupted his thoughts.  "Leave me alone!"  Another rock.  "I don't want you here! Get away from me!"  A barrage of rocks.  Saitou felt his ears go flat, and his tail stiffen straight from his body in anger.  He bared his fangs, preparing himself to teach his boy just who was alpha when another rock hit him on the nose, causing him to yelp in an undignified manner.

"This is all your fault, Hajime!  I hate you!"  Sano practically roared.  Saitou blinked his narrowed eyes.  The words hurt him more than any rock ever could; and if they, in and of themselves, weren't enough to make him abandon Sanosuke; the sense of relief that suddenly arose from the boy when he did turn away was palatable enough to make him run.

***

Watching as Saitou silently disappeared through the underbrush had to be among the hardest things Sano had ever done in his life.  He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had just saved Hajime's life, but he also knew that his actions and words had wounded the only being in the world who knew, and understood, what his life had become in the last two years.  The relief that Saitou was safe suddenly became fear that Saitou wouldn't understand why he had acted in the manner that he had.  

Sano was so focused on the wolf's passage that he lost track of Arundo Akamatsu until the stitched faced man backhanded him.  Sano fell to his hands and knees, surprised; he hadn't seen or heard the hunter leave his perch in the tree.  He tasted blood on his lips, and felt a bruise forming on his cheek.  _Idiot!  What's the first rule of defense?_ Saitou's cold voice lectured in his mind.  _Never take your eyes off your enemy…_

"You think you're clever, don't you, you little shit?"  Akamatsu asked tauntingly.  Sano glared up at him.  "Well, I think you've cost me enough for one night," the trapper declared, kicking him in the ribs, knocking the wind out of him.  Sano landed on his ass, his right hand coming to rest on cold steel.  A quick glance down noticed a glint of firelight dancing on the chain of the concealed steel trap that his hand nearly landed in.  Akamatsu was upon him before he could gasp enough air to move, pulling him up painfully by his shaggy hair.  Sano's hand tightened automatically on the chain.  "I think you _owe _me something for tonight, pretty boy," the man said with a lecherous grin.  "And I think I'm going to _enjoy _taking what you owe me from your body."

Sanosuke didn't think.  In the time it took to blink once, the cold, dispassionate part of his mind watched as he swung the chain and the trap at Akamatsu; observed the cold, sharp teeth close upon the man's face and neck; and felt the hunter's hot blood splash him in the face and chest as the man let go of his hair.  By his second blink, that pragmatic part of his mind studied Akamatsu's hands as they tried to claw the steel trap from his head; noticed that it was possible for the man to free himself; and forced Sano to kick the man in the chest before his hands earned his liberation.  And by the third blink, that separate awareness saw Arundo Akamatsu fall into another of his traps; scrutinized his death throes; and remarked that the hunter had been right: it was a terrible way to die.  _Aku. Soku. Zan. _

Sanosuke came back to full awareness of himself and his surroundings as he watched, in horrified fascination, the still twitching body of the first man he'd ever killed.  He sank to his hands and knees and puked up his guts.

***

"Sano?" Yahiko called out upon seeing the young man kneeling near a fire in a clearing.  Sanosuke looked up, startled; the dying embers of the fire painting his features in scarlets and oranges, making him appear to be the forest spirit that Yahiko had first taken him for days ago, another lifetime ago.  "Kenshin, I found him!" the boy thief called over his shoulder as he began to run toward the clearing.

"No!  Stay away from me!" Sano said forcefully, his voice cracking.  "There are traps hidden all around this clearing.  It's not a good way to die."  Yahiko froze in his tracks.

"Where's the hunter?" Yahiko whispered loudly.  "Have you seen Saitou?"  Sano looked down at his hands.

"Saitou is…safe," he said, his voice oddly subdued. Yahiko noticed the awkward hesitation.  "The hunter…" again, Sano paused, looking over at bundle of what Yahiko had assumed to be rags, "won't be bothering us again."  Yahiko felt his eyes widen with the realization that Sanosuke, who was hopeless at defense, who, according to Kenshin, had never wanted to kill in his life, had killed the hunter.  Sano looked from the body to the dark and windswept sky.  "It's going to be dawn soon," he said, and something in his voice sounded broken to the thief.  Yahiko looked up at the cloudy black sky.

"How can you tell?" Yahiko asked gently, tactfully trying to steer the conversation away from death.

"After so many sunrises?"  Sano said with a small, humorless laugh.  "Yahiko, I need you to do a favor for me.  Take Horse back to the stables and wait for Hajime.  Tell him…tell him that I didn't mean what I said.  Tell him that…I love him," the words came out in almost a whisper as silent tears rolled off Sano's pointed chin.   "Tell him he's free…He'll understand."  A chill of premonition ran down Yahiko's spine at Sano's last words.

Kenshin, moving as almost as quietly as any forest creature, finally made it to their location.  The boy grabbed his arm to stop him from going into the clearing.  "He says that there are traps all around," Yahiko murmured in the wanderer's ear, trying to tell Kenshin his guess without letting Sano know what he said.  "He wants me to go wait for Saitou in town.  Stay here and watch him.  Something really bad happened here, and I'm afraid he may try to hurt himself."  Kenshin, his eyes narrowed in understanding, nodded grimly.


	10. Chapter nine

"Go away, Kenshin," Sanosuke commanded in a low voice, as he found the hunter's skinning knife.  "Unless you think you'd enjoy watching me kill myself."  Kenshin felt his eyes go wide at this last statement.

"Sano," he said as he hurriedly, but carefully, swept a long stick in front of his feet in order to clear away any traps in his path, "why in the world would you even say something like that?"  The sky was graying towards dawn, and Kenshin knew that if he could keep Sano talking for a few moments more this danger would pass.  A trap snapped the end of the stick.  How the hell had Sano gotten past all of these in the dark, Kenshin wondered to himself.  

"Because he thinks I hate him…" Sano started.  He looked down at the knife in his grip.  "Because everything's entirely my fault.  If I had committed suicide when this mess began, none of this would be happening.  No one would have been hurt, or killed, or… Hell, Shibumi may have even been shamed enough to change his ways."  Kenshin thought he sounded like his spirit had broken.

"Shibumi has neither shame nor honor.  You know that, Sano, that you do," Kenshin said, hoping to keep the young man talking.  The light was growing stronger; Kenshin kept finding and disarming traps.  "Killing yourself back then would not have changed him.  And killing yourself now will not solve anything, that it won't."  Sano took a deep breath and placed the tip of the knife to his navel.  "Sano!  Please put the knife down!  I know you are not this selfish.  If you do this, you will be throwing away everything that Saitou and I have done for you, that you will!"

"Last night, I told Hajime that I hated him Kenshin; he thinks that I hate him.  Thank you for everything that you've try to do for me, really, but I think that everyone would be better off when I'm gone," Sano said as he grit his teeth and closed his eyes.

"SANO!  NO!" Kenshin shouted, lunging forward, traps forgotten.

***

Yahiko watched from Horse's stall as the cold dawn painted the wind tattered clouds with streaks of pink and gold.  The big black horse broke wind, and his tail swished violently, slapping Yahiko stingingly on the back as if he were an annoying fly.  "Damn it Horse, this is not the time for jokes…" Yahiko began, as he pushed the horse's hindquarters away.  A cold shadow fell upon the boy, and he looked up into two hard amber eyes.  Yahiko bit his lip, suddenly unsure of what he was going to say.

"What are _you_ doing here?  Did Himura send you to rub my troubles into my face?"  Saitou asked as he entered the stall.  He began rummaging through the saddlebag for his clothes without looking at Yahiko.

"Sano asked me to come here and talk to you," Yahiko started.  Saitou's sudden glare made Yahiko's words freeze on his tongue.

"Hn.  I would have thought that Sanosuke would at least be smart enough to know that he said everything he needed to say last night," Saitou said distantly, as he put on his underclothes.  Yahiko frowned at him.

"He didn't mean what he said to you," Yahiko said quietly in the face of the man's irritation.  Saitou snorted and slipped on his kimono.  "He knows he hurt your feelings, and he's…"

"Sorry?" Saitou interrupted coldly, without looking up or ceasing to dress.  "Is he worried that I'll kill Shibumi, dooming him to half a life forever?  Tell him that after Justice is served, I'll be sure to commit seppuku, so he can live free of the curse."  He pleated and tied his riding hakama.  Yahiko felt his own anger rising.

"Justice?  You selfish bastard!  You never cared about Sano as much as you did about 'Justice'.  I don't see how he could love someone like you!" Yahiko yelled.

"You claim to be the son of a samurai, the grandson of a samurai; tell me, what are the five virtues at the heart of a true warrior?" Saitou asked calmly.  Yahiko frowned quizzically and wondered what the man was driving at.

"Loyalty, justice, love, self-control, and simplicity," he answered by rote.  Saitou nodded once, like a teacher to a slow pupil.

"I did not choose to take up this mission because Sanosuke loves me; I have never been under the illusion that he does; I took up this mission because fighting against injustice is the path of all true warriors," Saitou stated, but now it was Yahiko's turn to interrupt.

"Shut up, you pompous ass!  You don't know anything!"  Yahiko spat.  Saitou raised a fine eyebrow at him.  Yahiko ignored him.  "Follow me, and _maybe_ you'll learn something."

***

Saitou, bemused, surprised himself by actually allowing the young thief to lead him back down the main road toward the forest.  If he was honest with himself, he knew that some part of him wanted Yahiko to be proven right; wanted to believe that Sanosuke did care for him and that the last two years of their lives together hadn't been a waste of time.  The hurt part of his conscious, however, smirked at the sentimental thought.  It was obvious to him that Sano blamed him for their predicament.  And the bad part about it was that the young man was right:  if he had had enough self-control to resist Sanosuke's pleadings in the first place, then none of this would be happening now.  Saitou brutally suppressed the sigh that was trying to escape his lips.

Yahiko signaled him to stop as they rounded a bend in the road and came upon a wagon parked in the tall, dead grass.  The little thief slid from Horse's back and stalked toward the wagon.  "Last night, as we were heading for the inn, we came across this wagon," the boy said as gruffly as he could with his cracking voice.  He watched, his irritation written plainly across his face, as Saitou slowly dismounted Horse and examined the wagon and it's grizzly contents.  "The wagon's owner called Sano by name."  Saitou frowned, understanding what Yahiko was implying.

"This hunter was after me, specifically," he said as he coolly counted the gory pelts on the wagon.  "And that's why Sano didn't want me in that clearing."  Yahiko nodded.

"There were traps all around that clearing," the boy said as he turned and began walking toward the forest on foot.  Saitou tied Horse to the wagon and followed, watching the kid's retreating back without really seeing it.  It was clear to him now that Sanosuke had deliberately put himself at risk by looking for this hunter who was obviously in Shibumi's service.  That had been the fear he had smelled last night; that had been the danger he had sensed.  

They walked the forest in silence, with only the sound of snow and twigs crunching under their feet as Saitou thought through the events of the night before from the perspective of a human being, instead of that of a wolf.  Idiot!  Saitou thought with a certain fondness for his…he cut that thought of at the knees.  Sano had never been _his_ anything.  Still, the boy's reckless bravery on his behalf silenced the cold, cynical mutterings of his mind for now.  Yahiko was slowing as they near a clearing and Saitou frowned slightly as some part of him recognized this place.  If he wasn't mistaken, this was the same clearing from the night before.  Another thought made its way to the front of his mind.

"Earlier you said Sanosuke sent you to talk to me.  He must have gotten away from the hunter.  So why are you bringing me here?  Is he hurt?"  The very thought that the hunter could have hurt Sano made Saitou reach for his sword's hilt.  If Sanosuke had been hurt, the man would die a slow, and very painful, death.  Yahiko stopped altogether, and turned to look at him with a look that seemed to measure and weigh everything about him.  Saitou caught his breath in the face of the boy's cold assessment.  

"Sano killed the hunter last night, Saitou," the little thief said quietly.  "Was he hurt?  Not that I could see.  He was very upset though, and very worried that he had hurt _your _feelings.  He told me to tell you that he loves you, and that you're free.  He said that you would know what he meant."  Saitou felt his heart freeze at the boy's words.  He could only be free if Sano were dead.  He began walking quickly toward the clearing, pushing past Yahiko without a second glance.

***

Kenshin knelt on the cold, stony ground, staring down at the disaster that he had been unable to avert; a small breeze ruffled Sanosuke's white jacket and toyed with the tattered red bandana, which was pooled like blood on the snow.  He barely noticed as the shallow gash on his arm throbbed.  In the distance, he could hear Yahiko and Saitou's voices as they approached the clearing, but his mind refused to hear what they were saying.  

            Evidently the traps were easier to spot now that the sun was fully up.  There was the sound of rushing feet in the underbrush, and Kenshin finally lifted his eyes to find Saitou staring down at him.  Kenshin watched as Saitou's already narrow amber eyes narrowed further as he took in the sights of the clearing.

            "Where is he?" the Wolf growled at the Wanderer.

            "Gone," Kenshin sighed as he began folding Sano's clothes.  He watched as Saitou whistled, holding his arm up as a perch, waiting.  "I don't think he intends to come back, that I don't."  Saitou glared at him and Yahiko frowned.

            "What happened after I left?" the young thief asked, breaking the tense silence that had sprung up between them.  Kenshin turned his gaze toward the boy, unable to take Saitou's death glare as the man finally accepted that the eagle was gone and lowered his arm.

            "He found the hunter's knife," Kenshin said with a glance toward the stiff body of the hunter.  "You were right, Yahiko, that you were.  He planned to kill himself.  He seems to think that everyone would be better off without him, that if he had killed himself in the first place, even Shibumi would have been shamed."  Kenshin watched as the boy nodded thoughtfully, all the while, he could still feel Saitou's continued glare like a sword thrust between his shoulder blades.  "I tried to stop him, that I did, but I was too far away when he placed the blade to his stomach.  The only thing that stopped him was the rising of the sun."

            "Hn," Saitou snorted, as he looked away from Kenshin and began exploring the clearing.  He turned over the stiff body, the distaste obvious in his harsh features.  

            "What happened to your arm?" Yahiko asked Kenshin, again drawing his attention away from Saitou.

            "Sano accidentally raked me with his talons as he flew off, that he did."  Saitou snorted again.  Yahiko winced in sympathy.  

            "Where's the knife?" Saitou asked suddenly, his eyes sharp.  Kenshin started at the question.

            "He… took it with him…"  Saitou's frown deepened.  Then his eyes widened.

            "He's going to Aizu," Saitou said, more to himself than to either Kenshin or Yahiko.  Kenshin's eyes widened with realization.

            "How can you know that?"  Yahiko asked.

            "I've traveled with him for the last two years; I know how he thinks," Saitou answered tersely.  "Stupid featherhead." This last part was murmured under his breath.

"Sano mentioned shaming Shibumi, that he did," Kenshin added, seeing that Yahiko was still confused.  Saitou nodded curtly.

            "When is your 'eclipse'?" he asked, looking at the sun.  

            "Sometime tomorrow morning," Kenshin answered solemnly.

            "Sano will be in the city this afternoon, but he won't be able to do anything until after sunset.  If we start now, we will be able to make it by then.  If we are able to find him, we may be able to stop him from doing something stupid."

            "Then what are we sitting around here talking for?" Yahiko almost yelled.  "Let's go."  The thief began heading back toward the main road, leaving both the Wanderer and the Wolf to watch his retreating back.


	11. Chapter ten

            "Oi! I thought we were in a hurry!" Yahiko's screechy voice made Saitou grit his teeth, and although he managed to keep his expression placid, he had to bite his tongue to keep from snapping at the boy.  Himura, however, was able to see through the calm façade, and seeing Yahiko's danger, stepped into the fray.

            "We will reach the city faster if we take the hunter's wagon, that we will," the Wanderer answered for the Wolf.  Saitou stoically nodded his agreement without acknowledging the redhead.  Of course, the little thief couldn't leave well enough alone.

            "But why do we need to take the pelts off the wagon?  And don't you think that taking the time to burn them is a little excessive?" Yahiko whined as he brought the last of the bloody carcasses to the hastily made pyre.  The boy had been complaining ever since Saitou had assigned him the job.  Saitou watched from the corner of his eye as Himura raised an eyebrow at him, clearly leaving him to answer the boy.  Saitou grit his teeth again.  

            "We'll have need of an empty wagon if we want to get into Aizu undetected this evening.  As for the pelts, how would you feel if your aunts, uncles and cousins were cruelly murdered, their bodies left to feed the vultures, while passersby did nothing to honor them?" he said quietly, as the boy scrubbed the blood from his hands with snow.  Yahiko opened his mouth to argue, but Saitou cut him off.  "These were innocent beings killed by the greed of men; we would not be honorable if we just left them by the side of the road."  Yahiko's mouth closed like a koi in a pond, and Saitou did not bother to hide his sigh at the cessation of questions as he made a small obeisance toward the fire.  He was slightly pleased when Himura and Yahiko did the same.  "Now we go," he said as he vaulted onto Horse's back.  The animal danced impatiently as they waited for Himura and the boy to climb onto the wagon.  Saitou set a brisk pace on the hilly, muddy road to Aizu.

            They had traveled several hours, Saitou halfway listening to the thief and the wanderer make small talk, but not contributing any himself, when he suddenly called for a halt for lunch.  It was time to tell his annoying companions his plans.

***

            Sanosuke usually enjoyed the rhythm of flight: being carried up in lazy circles to the edge of the sky by a column of warm air, dropping into a glide once that warm air disappeared, only to be caught up in the next thermal, or perhaps catching an updraft of wind bounced from the nearby hills and mountains.  Usually, the only thinking he did while riding the air was to look out for prey he might fall upon, and calculate their moves as he dove from the sky after them; and that didn't take much thinking at all, it was mostly instinct.  Usually.

'I'm not being selfish,' Sanosuke told himself as he came to the end of the thermal he was riding.  He automatically shortened his wingspan into the glide position and began the long, slow fall to earth.  If he had still had ears, Kenshin's words from earlier would probably still be burning them.  'I'm doing the right thing.'  He caught another thermal, but it was a weak one, and he didn't gain much height from it before it petered out. 'How could Kenshin have said that, when my death will free Saitou from the curse?  It's not like Saitou could ever love me, anyhow,' he justified to himself.  The path his thoughts was taking him down was depressing to him, however, and he decided to enjoy the wind beneath his wings and the sight of the sun and cloud mottled landscape beneath him; after all, after today, if everything went as he hoped, he would never fly again.

No one noticed the golden eagle carrying a knife flying in lazy circles over the entire prefecture of Aizu.  Instead of watching for prey, Sano watched, with his keen eagle's sight, the far scattered humanity of Aizu.  The few brave farmers left in the prefecture nailed their shutters against the wind, gathered wood and dried the last radishes and persimmons before the harshness of winter settled in for good; the merchants of the outlying towns hawked their pitiful wares to people without enough money to buy them; and most of the people and guards of the city itself went about their business with a sullen malaise that the Eagle could see even from his vaunted height.  What interested him most however was the retinue of people wearing the Shogun's livery who surged like the tide over the main road to Aizu.  The Shogun himself was coming to Aizu, and that made his plan easier.  Kenshin may have been right about Shibumi having no shame, but if Sano were to kill himself in front of the Shogun as well, then Shibumi would definitely lose face.  The people of Aizu didn't notice the golden eagle with the knife, but he noticed them all.  

***

            Shibumi had been restlessly pacing the heart of his meditation garden for hours.  He needed to focus his thoughts on the Shogun's impending arrival; however, he was finding it an impossible task  "Sagara Sanosuke," he whispered as he began to caress his hardening member through the silk of his kimono.  

His dreams from the past few nights had been filled with images, not of the soft, pretty boy he had known and dreamed about for the past two years, but of an older Sanosuke grown feral and even more beautiful:  a wild-haired Sanosuke who ran through the evening forest, a blanket wrapped around his lithe waist, chasing after, and catching rabbits; a stormy-eyed, reckless Sanosuke, riding a big black horse through the darkness of night; a crying Sanosuke kneeling in the snow, watching for dawn.  Shibumi knew in his bones that these dream fragments were somehow reality; knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they meant that Sanosuke was near, returning to Aizu, and to him.  Shibumi hand parted his kimono and stroked, rubbed, and pulled his cock harder, faster at the thought.  Sanosuke was coming back to him…he was coming back…he was coming… The Daimyo sank to his knees.

 "Pardon me for the interruption, my Lord, but the Shogun's entourage has been spotted," Usui sneering voice broke through Shibumi's daydreams before he was able to reach his climax.  Shibumi started with a groan, his back stiffening while his organ softened as his blood rushed to paint his cheeks, the muscles of his jaw tightening in frustration.  "He'll be here just before sunset."  Shibumi pushed himself from his knees, and made sure that his kimono sat straight before turning an ineffective glare to the unseeing blind man.  

He was beginning to suspect that the Usui liked interrupting and startling him; lived to bring him bad news.  Shibumi pursed his lips as he thought that a new Captain of the Guard might be in order soon. 'Maybe when Kamatari returns with Saitou's head, or Akamatsu with his pelt,' the Daimyo smiled at the idea. 'After all, according to my visions, Sanosuke is returning to me…' that thought made him gasp at the implications.  He could only being seeing these visions, could only be sure of their truth, if the Oni was involved; and thinking of Aizu's Demon, and the power that he, as Aizu's Daimyo had over it, gave him a foolproof way out of his dilemma with the Shogun.  He noticed Usui 'watching' him, a small smirk playing on the Captain's thin lips.

"You suddenly seem to be in a good mood considering that you are about to face the Shogun for theft," Usui said in that uncanny way of his, the scorn in his voice obvious. Shibumi frowned, wrinkling his nose. Yes, indeed, a new Captain was in order.

            "That's because I'm not worried, Usui.  The Shogun has no proof that I have done anything wrong, which is why he is coming here, instead of summoning me to him.  However, he is a sly man.  He suspects that I am cheating him; and I have no doubt that while I am busy entertaining him, his spies will be trying to find evidence that we have already destroyed.  Your assignment, Usui, is to find me just one of those spies.  Do that, the Shogun loses face, and this entire misadventure disappears," Shibumi snapped his fingers, chuckling to himself.  There was no need to tell the soon-to-be former Captain of his alternative plan.

            "And what happens if I can't find a spy?" Usui asked with a smirk.  Shibumi raised an eyebrow, and then remembered that the gesture was lost on the sightless man.

            "Then you are not the man I thought you were, and after this is over, I _will_ be searching for a new Captain of the Guard," Shibumi answered with a smirk of his own, letting the impudent blind man know that he was not as indispensable as he thought.  Usui bowed low, backing his way out of the garden.

            "Then I'll go prepare my men, and leave you to your…ahem, _meditation_, my Lord."  Shibumi ground his teeth.  Yes, he thought, a new Captain of the Guard is in order.

***

            The last rays of the setting sun still painted the horizon as a rickety wagon with a big black horse tied to the back joined the end of the column of travelers thronging the main gate into the city of Aizu.  Kenshin reached up to scratch the back of his head, but a low growl from underneath the blanket covering the back of the wagon stopped his hand.  The ashes that Saitou had ordered Yahiko to rub into his bright red hair in order to camouflage it made his head itch; but scratching his scalp wasn't an option, as Saitou's growl had warned, since that might dislodge the disguise.  Kenshin sighed, lowering his hand; he knew better than to even think about rubbing at the dirt that concealed the scar on his cheek.  

Yahiko sat next to Kenshin on the wagon, equally dirty, his eyes wide with fear.  The boy obviously didn't believe it was possible to hide in plain sight.  Kenshin didn't have time to reassure him, as the tail end of the Shogun's retinue passed through the gates with minimum fuss, leaving only them, and a few stragglers to the scrutiny of the guards.  A newly lit torch, carried by one of the gate guards, flared in Kenshin's eyes as he stopped the wagon in front of the gates.

"Hold.  State your business here, peasant," a guard ordered in a bored, gruff tone.  Kenshin took a deep breath, and began stuttering like the overawed peasant he was supposed to be.

"Well…uh…I, that is, my nephew and I, are here on behalf of our village, with a gift for the Daimyo, uh…my lord, that we are."  The guard held the torch to look at Yahiko, who was shaking like a leaf in a storm.

"Hmmmm, your nephew looks slightly familiar to me," he said, narrowing his eyes slightly.  "Why is he shaking like that?"  Yahiko blanched under his mask of dirt.  

"This is his first time to the city my lord, that it is.  I think he's shaking because he has never been around so many people.  He's simple, you know, that he is," Kenshin whispered conspiratorially to the man; Yahiko stopped shaking long enough to turn a glare at him, which Kenshin ignored.  "Was that really the Shogun ahead of us?" he asked, improvising, and another soft growl came from beneath the blanket, threatening dire things if he didn't stop babbling.  The sound caught the guard's attention.

"Only some of his retainers," the man answered absently.  "And what have we here?" the man asked as he sauntered to the back of the wagon and pulled the blanket off.  Saitou lunged at the man as far as the rope tying him to the wagon bed allowed, snapping and growling fiercely, causing the guard to stumble back, as he dropped his torch.  A snicker arose from the other guards stationed at the gate.  Seeing the ropes, the man recovered quickly, unsheathing his sword.  "I've never had the pleasure of killing a wolf before."  Yahiko gasped at Saitou's impending doom.

"How strange," Kenshin said quickly as the man lifted his sword, preparing to strike.  "The Daimyo said exactly the same thing when he stopped in our village last spring on his way to Heian-kyo, that he did.  I'm sure that he will understand you depriving him of that pleasure, that he will, since he seemed a very forgiving sort of man, that he did."  The guard checked his swing, the blood draining from his face.  He sheathed his sword quickly and threw the blanket back over the still snarling wolf.

"Pass on then," the man growled.  Kenshin bowed low in his seat, and elbowed Yahiko to do the same.  Kenshin flicked the reins, and the rickety wagon rolled through the gates guarding the city of Aizu.

"That was too close," Yahiko whispered once they were far from the gates.  "And the worst part is yet to come."  Kenshin chuckled.  "And how do we plan to find Sanosuke in all of these people?"

"It wasn't as close as you might think, that it was not.  And I am familiar with most of the places Sano used to hide in as a child, that I am.  Don't worry, we'll find him."  The wolf made a huff of agreement.

"If you say so.  I still don't understand why I have to break back _into _prison, though."

"By breaking into prison and freeing the prisoners, you will not only allow Saitou access to the Daimyo unmolested by the guards trying to recapture people, but with the Shogun here, you will also cause Shibumi to lose face, that you will."

"If you say so," Yahiko repeated.  Kenshin smiled as he found a secluded spot to park the wagon.  "Do you think it will work?"

"It has to.  Now, stay here with Saitou.  If he changes form while I'm gone, you'll know the worst has happened.  I'll be back before sunrise, that I will."  He climbed off the wagon, and walked through the darkening streets of the city, feeling two sets of eyes upon him.

***

Usui stalked through the castle's empty dojo; most of his men off chasing after Shibumi's wild geese.  'Spies indeed,' he thought bitterly as he, all of a sudden, violently swung his weighted Okinawan spear at a helpless straw practice dummy, decapitating it in a flurry of hay.  After all of their time together, did Shibumi actually think that he could hide his true thoughts from Usui?  If the Daimyo thought that Uonuma Usui would quietly allow himself to be replaced, the man was sadly mistaken.  The sounds of a galloping heartbeat, running footfalls and panting reached his ears as he brutally stabbed the now headless dummy again and again.  A slight warming in the air told him that his visitor had arrived.  He turned quickly, and the breathless gasp told him that his spear point had just missed the neck of Shindou Tatewaki, his new aide-de-camp.

"Captain?" the man gulped as his already racing heart sped up in fear.  Usui smirked at him; fear was always good.  "I bring news," his aide stammered, trying to control his fright.  "We caught someone sneaking into one of the unused rooms in the western pavillion."

"An actual _spy_?" Usui asked in surprise; it would be a shock to him if the Daimyo were actually right about the Shogun's tactics.  He listened as Shindou inevitably shook his head, the man forgetting that his commander couldn't see the gesture.  Usui smirked again.

"I'm not sure…" Shindou sputtered.  

"What do you mean 'you're not sure'?" Usui growled.

"Some of the men recognized the boy.  It's Sagara Sanosuke."

"Sagara…Sanosuke…they're sure?"  Usui felt himself sneer as he remembered the scene from Shibumi's meditation garden that morning.  If it really _was _Sagara Sanosuke, then the key to his future job security had just fallen into his lap.

"Yes, the men are sure it is him; it seems that he still has a few friends among the guards.  He nearly got away.  I'm told he fought like he dared anyone to kill him before he was knocked unconscious.  I knew that you'd want to be informed before we brought him before the Daimyo."  Usui frowned slightly, seeing his future collapse around him with that possible action.

"No.  The Daimyo will be busy with the Shogun," Usui said, justifying his apparent disobedience of orders.  "Bring the boy to me, and tell the men to continue looking for spies," he commanded brusquely.  He waited until Shindou had bowed his way out of the dojo before baring his teeth in a savage and self-satisfied grin.


	12. Chapter eleven

            Kenshin watched from the shadows as four groaning guards were helped from the western pavillion; it was the best evidence yet that he had finally found Sanosuke.  He had searched the obvious places, but for some strange reason, Shibumi had guards prowling around all of the abandoned nooks of Aizu.  The darkness was edging more toward morning than night, pressing Kenshin's need to get back to Yahiko and Saitou when loud whispers caught his attention.

            "I can't believe we actually caught a spy!  I bet Ol' No Eyes'll give us all promotions for this," someone said, as Kenshin hid himself from the approaching guards.

"Shhhhh! You know that Usui will somehow know you said something like that!" a second person hissed.  Kenshin watched as two young guards walked out of the pavilion and into the covered walkway carrying Sano's bound and limp form.  "Do you really believe he's a spy?  I mean this is Sagara Sanosuke. I didn't know him all that well, but I really don't think that he'd spy against Aizu."  'This isn't good, that it is not,' Kenshin thought as he followed them with his eyes, allowing them to get a certain distance away from him before following them physically.  "Besides, why would the _Shogun,_ of all people, spy on us anyway?"  Unseen, Kenshin nodded his agreement.

"You know better than to question orders.  Besides, we _did_ catch him in a place that no one goes to anymore."  Kenshin followed them stealthily, frantically formulating and discarding plans to rescue his friend.  He was thinking so hard, that he almost didn't notice that they were not heading for the dungeons or the grand audience room, but towards Shibumi's rooms.  His heart contracted with fear for Sano.

"Why do you think that Usui countermanded the order to bring any spies directly to the Daimyo?"  Kenshin frowned, not knowing what to make of this information; but he knew that it did not make Sano's situation any easier:  he would have to be extremely careful if he had to rescue Sano from Uonuma Usui.

"You know, you are never going to rise far in the ranks if you continue to ask all of these questions.  Just do your job, and you'll be a whole lot happier."  Kenshin left them to their argument, needing to find a place where he could listen in on Usui without being heard.

***

Shibumi's "trysting room" was overstuffed and cluttered, making it hard to move freely, much to Usui's disgust.  He became aware of the muffled heartbeat, and nearly soundless breathing just as the guards bearing the prisoner reached the door.  He snatched the screen open without waiting for them to knock, scaring them both.  Usui barely listened as the surprised guards gingerly lay their burden on the floor and bowed their way out; he was trying to find the source of that hidden heartbeat.  'So, Shibumi is correct: there are spies in Aizu,' Usui thought.  'However, is it a spy for the Shogun, as Shibumi would claim; or a spy for Shibumi himself?'  It actually wouldn't surprise him if Shibumi was spying on him; but Usui didn't think the man was smart enough.  'So, the spy is most likely form the Shogun, after all,' Usui resolved, 'and no real threat to me.'  After nearly 20 minutes of searching, however, he had turned up nothing.  Usui ground his teeth in frustration.

A soft groan, a small shift in breathing and a rush of adrenalin halted his search.  He smirked quietly as the boy wisely tried to feign unconsciousness.  "Well, well, well; my, my, my.  What have we here?" Usui asked nonchalantly, prodding his prisoner lightly with the tip of his spear.  "I know you're awake, boy."  Usui reveled in the accelerated heartbeat and the smell of adrenalin as the boy shifted away from poking spear, hissing when his movement caused the ropes to tighten painfully.  "I'd advise you not to squirm too much; Moriyama's hojojutsu is excellent."

"Don't call me boy," Sagara growled, still struggling vainly against the tightening ropes.  "What the fuck do you want from me?" he asked with a small gasp.  Usui chuckled as he realized his prisoner recognized the room that they were in.  He couldn't resist the urge to toy with the boy a little.

"Oh yes, I remember you, now, Sagara Sanosuke," Usui said with a smirk.  "I've been told that you are a very pretty _boy_," he emphasized the last word as he let the flat of his spear's blade caress his prisoner's cheek.  "A brash boy with little common sense," he let the spear point drift lower, to rest over Sanosuke's rapidly beating heart, "who never knew when to shut up.  Even Saitou despaired of ever teaching you caution."  He smirked as his prisoner instinctively tried to inch away from the spear.  "I'm not sure why Shibumi is so enamored with you; pretty boys are so very easy to find.  But I do know that he'll pay me whatever price I ask for you."

"So, you've become Shibumi's pimp?" the boy said in a vain attempt to use bravado to mask his growing, and obvious to Usui, anxiety.  "How pathetic," the boy said, his gruff voice taking on an almost sly, goading tone.  

Almost without thought, Usui let his spear point open a small seam in the skin along the boy's cheekbone, filling the room with the bright metallic tang of blood.  The boy hissed his pain as Usui laughed at him.  Usui carefully licked the blood from the blade with a smirk.  "Very sweet," he taunted.  His victim's helpless defiance, fear and anger mixed with the strength of his pride tainted the very air to Usui's heightened senses; it was as if the boy were a wild thing caged, and it was an exhilarating combination.  "You are in no position to say anything to me in that tone of voice, Sagara Sanosuke; after all, I could kill you without a thought."  Usui punctuated his point by letting his spear tip break the skin over the boy's breastbone.  Whatever reaction to his threat he had been expecting from Sagara, the boy calmly relaxing into his bonds and baring his throat hadn't been one of them.  Usui found it interesting that it was the unseen spy's heart that accelerated with fear and worry.

"Saitou was right," the boy said in a snide tone of voice, bringing Usui back to the task at hand, "you're a bully and a coward."  

"_I _am the Captain of Aizu's guard," Usui snarled in anger at the taunt, his cool mockery evaporating at the mention of the former captain's name.  "Saitou Hajime is _nothing_," he raised his spear, fully intending to inflict serious damage to the insolent young man.  He noticed that his action did not induce the dread he was anticipating, just a feeling of expectant hopefulness from Sagara, and quickly realized that the boy was trying to provoke him into killing him.  Usui swiftly changed his strike, letting the weighted end of the spear catch the boy on his upraised chin, causing him to groan again.  He would lose everything if he killed Sagara Sanosuke.  "Clever _boy_," he complimented facetiously, as he heard Shindou Tatewaki's steps nearing the room.  "But you're worth much more to me alive."  The boy's anger, the sounds of clinching teeth and the creaking of tightening ropes, was almost a physical thing.  "What do you want, Shindou?" he called before his aide could knock, ignoring his captive's anger.

"Sir, the Daimyo wishes to see you immediately!" Shindou called through the screen.  Usui smirked.  Shibumi was probably in over his head again, and needing to be bailed out of whatever mess he had gotten himself into.

"Fine, Shindou.  Tell him I'll be there momentarily.  I need time to make myself presentable.  Also, I want you to post guards on this room.  No one is to come in or out, unless I say so, not even the Daimyo, is that understood?  Let everyone know that the penalty for failure is death."  Usui smiled as he heard the gasp his aide tried to hide as the man bowed his way from the door.  That should discourage his cleverly hidden spy.

Usui waited in silence for the ordered guards to reach the room, ignoring the curses and threats from his prisoner.  As the guards reached their post, he slid open the screen.  Turning toward his 'guest,' he allowed himself to sneer.  "Don't move," he commanded the bound boy frivolously.  "I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Fuck you, bastard," Sagara snarled defiantly.  Usui chuckled.  

"Not now, but maybe when I return, if you're lucky." The boy's anger at the taunt made him try his luck against the ropes again.  'I really can't fault the Daimyo for wanting to break this boy to his will,'Usui thought as he listened to his captive's snarls.  'But as always, Shibumi overreaches himself.'

 "I'm sure we'll have a lot more to discuss before I let Shibumi know you're here."  Again the boy's emotions didn't match Usui's expectations; yes, there was fear and helplessness, but there was also something indefinable, like the boy knew something that he himself didn't.  He pursed his lips, contemplating, but decided that he would be sure to find out what his captive thought he knew later; it wouldn't do to keep the Shogun waiting.

He was about to close the screen when he noticed that the muffled heartbeat of the Shogun's spy was gone.

***

Sanosuke hurt; his body was a mass of crisscrossed bruises and burns from the ropes.  'Damn Moriyama for learning hojojutsu anyway.'  The blood drying on his face and chest was sticky, and his head ached from the earlier blow.  Physical pain meant nothing to him, however; he had always taken pride in his own strength.  Physical pain had never been anything more to him than an indication that he was alive.

Alive.  He sighed, wondering how everything had gone wrong.  Granted, planning wasn't his strong suit; Saitou was the planner.  He sighed again at the thought of Saitou, wishing nothing more than to let the man ruck his breast feathers in that damn annoying way of his, or hear the man call him 'idiot' or 'featherhead' again, or bite at his feet when he tried to sleep past dawn's twilight.  Sano groaned. 'It's funny what you miss when you don't have it anymore,' he thought sadly.

He kept absolutely still, his eyes closed, almost dizzily aware of the spin of the earth beneath him.  Despite the room's lack of windows, he knew that sunrise was agonizingly near; for the first time in over two years he couldn't bring himself to regret it.  Hopefully, by the time that blind psychopath returned he would have figured a way out of the room; the only trace of him would be a puddle of rope, some stolen clothes and perhaps a feather or two.  Wouldn't Usui be surprised?  He let out a low chuckle at the thought.  

'And what will you do if you escape?' he asked himself.  'Where will you go?'  That was the rub:  he didn't know what to do now that his attempt at a grand gesture had failed: his death for the return of Saitou to normal life.  He didn't see any other way to atone for the hurt he had caused, to prove his love for the man.  

Why had it taken him so long to realize that he loved Saitou? Why had it taken a threat to Saitou's life to open his eyes?  Considering everything he had done to catch Saitou's attention or gain his approval, shouldn't it have been obvious?  Perhaps Kenshin had been right, maybe he _was _selfish; but he couldn't go back to Saitou as a failure.  And he would never return to Shibumi. Never.  It seemed all of his choices had been taken away from him.  He would escape from his bonds with the rising sun, and find a way to finish what he started.

***

Yahiko paced fearfully by the wagon, waiting for Kenshin's return.  The night was growing late, and the constant scrutiny by various patrolling guards did nothing to calm his nerves.  Saitou growled at him from under the blanket.  "That's easy for you to say," Yahiko said crossly.  "You aren't out here getting stared at by every guard in Aizu."  The wolf snorted in what could only be called derision.  As if his words had summoning power, Yahiko noticed a guard looking intently at him and the wagon.

"Hey you," the man called out suddenly, making Yahiko jump.  "Why are you just sitting there?"  Yahiko ducked his head to hide his face, trying to ignore the fact that he was the only person that the guard could be talking to.  "You! Yeah, you!" the man yelled, making sure he was heard.  "I asked you a question."  Yahiko's mind froze and his heart pounded in his ears.

"Ah…I…um…heh…what, what?" he heard himself babble.  Somewhere in the back of his mind he noted that Saitou's growls had become more frightening.  The guard pulled his sword from its scabbard and Yahiko felt his eyes widening.

"I told him to stay here while I looked for an inn, that I did," Kenshin's light voice broke through the gloom.  Yahiko's knees went weak with relief as the short wanderer stepped into the guttering torchlight.  The guard's eyes narrowed.

"And you are?"

"The boy's uncle, sir.  We came on behalf of our village with a gift for the Daimyo, that we did."  The guard nodded.

"Oh, I heard about you and your slow nephew."  Yahiko's squeak of indignation was cut off by Saitou's menacing snarl.  "You have a wolf in the wagon, huh?"  Kenshin nodded politely, and the guard laughed.  "Well you obviously won't find an inn tonight, not with all of these damned courtiers here.  You can stay here for now, but you'll have to move your wagon by sunrise," the guard allowed magnanimously.  Kenshin bowed low, elbowing Yahiko to do the same.  Saitou became quiet in the wagon.

"We thank you sir, that we do," he said to the man's retreating back.  

"Slow?" Yahiko spat between clinched teeth, "I'll show him who's 'slow'."

"Are you prepared to face close scrutiny by the guards, Yahiko?" Kenshin asked quietly.  "You know that the guards are still looking for you, that you do.  If people think you're slow, they will not even _look_ at you, afraid your affliction will somehow rub off on them."  Yahiko sighed, letting the explanation soothe his wounded pride, knowing what Kenshin said was true.  But he still didn't like it.

"Where's Sano?" he mumbled to take his mind off the insult done to him.  "Did you find him?  He obviously hasn't killed himself," Yahiko said with a pointed look at the wagon.  Kenshin reached to run a nervous hand through hair before forcefully stopping himself from dislodging his disguise.

"Sano has been captured by Uonuma Usui, that he has," Kenshin said quietly.  If Yahiko had thought Saitou's snarls had been menacing before, he had been sadly mistaken.  The rickety wagon was shaking with the wolf's efforts to get free of his makeshift bonds.  Yahiko couldn't really blame him; his one encounter with the creepy, blind man had been enough to stunt his own growth.  "Saitou, stop it!" Kenshin hissed.  "Do you think I would have left Sano there if he were in any immediate danger?"  The wagon stopped shaking, but the growling didn't cease.  "Besides, Usui is with the Daimyo and the Shogun now, hunting him down and killing him would only give you away.  The plan stays the same: Yahiko will free as many prisoners as possible, I'll get Sanosuke, and you will both confront Shibumi during the eclipse.  We've come too far to change it now, that we have."  The wolf stopped growling long enough to snort.  "It was your plan to begin with, that it was."  Saitou made a disgusted sound that Yahiko interpreted as 'I didn't hear you coming up with anything.'  

"Let's get this over with.  It's going to be dawn soon," Yahiko sighed as he turned his attention to the sky.  "I should be going."  The wolf poked his head out from under the blanket, his amber eyes glowing eerily in the torchlight.  Kenshin nodded and enfolded him in a hug.

"Good luck," he said quietly, ruffling Yahiko's hair.  "We're all counting on you, that we are, so be careful."   Saitou made a whining noise and gestured with his head for Yahiko to approach him; which the young thief did gingerly, having spent most of his recent time trying to avoid being too close to Saitou in his animal form.  The wolf looked him directly in the eyes and placed a long-nailed paw on his shoulder in a kind of benediction.  Yahiko petted the rough black fur between Saitou's ears cautiously, afraid of taking liberties.

"If I don't see you again, thank you for saving my life," Yahiko said for the wolf's ears alone.  Saitou gave him a wolf's open mouth smile, and a small cuff to the nose, before effectively dismissing him by returning under the blanket.  Kenshin was smiling at the scene.  "Good luck to us all," Yahiko said to the Wanderer, "we're going to need it."  He turned away, not looking back; retracing his steps back to a place he had never wanted to see again: the dungeons of Aizu.


	13. Chapter twelve

            The hole was small.  In the summer, it allowed mosquitoes, newly hatched from the tiny stream that meandered underneath all of the buildings of the Daimyo's estate and fed his personal lake, to enter the dungeon.  In the winter, the bloodsucking bugs were replaced by the near constant fog formed from the same stream.  It was, altogether, an unpleasant hole; one that was left alone due to the fact that it _was_ small, and it added to the dungeon's already evil atmosphere.

            Unfortunately for the reputation of Aizu's dungeon, one of the many prisoners housed there had been just small enough, just flexible enough, to use the hole as a means of escape.  Still, in the week since that escape, nothing had been done about the hole; the rationale being that no one else in the dungeon was remotely capable of escaping that way, and what fool in his right mind would try to break _into_ the dungeons?

Yahiko, naked and shivering in the cold pre-dawn air, waited on one of the dungeon's stilts, cursing himself for a fool, wondering how he'd let Saitou talk him into this idiocy.  He listened at the hole until he knew exactly how many guards were on duty and their exact locations, before silently cursing, wriggling, twisting and contorting his way back through the hole into the dread building.  He thanked the Kami that the Shogun's visit meant that there were so few guards on duty as a loud gasp reached his ears.  "Oi, Yahiko," a voice hissed, "we thought you'd be dead by now.  What the hell are you doing back here?"  Yahiko glared at the long-haired young man called Katsu as he took Saitou's wakizashi from his teeth.

"Just for that, dumb ass, you're the last person I untie," Yahiko hissed back.  "For your information, the Shogun is here in Aizu, and we have a plan to make the Daimyo lose face."  There was wary murmuring from the prisoners tied in various torturous poses.  

"You're lying," someone else whispered. "The Shogun wouldn't have anything to do with a little gutter-snipe thief like you."  A chorus of murmuring agreements met this statement.  Yahiko frowned, indignant.

"I'm not lying; I'll have you know that my father was a great samurai in the Shogun's armies, but that's beside the point.  I never said it was the Shogun's plan.  Saitou Hajime is back in Aizu; he and Himura Kenshin plan to make sure that Shibumi faces justice."

"Wait," Katsu interrupted, "you know Saitou Hajime, the former Captain?  Tall man; scary yellow eyes; rides a big black horse named 'Horse'?"   Yahiko nodded as the prisoners began muttering again.  "…don't trust him…it's a trap…we'll all be killed… Himura and Saitou hate each other, why would they work together…"

"They are working together to help Sagara Sanosuke…" Yahiko tried to say over the den of the doubters.  Katsu blanched at Sano's name.

"Sanosuke was my friend," Katsu said to Yahiko.  "All of you shut up, and let the kid talk," Katsu hissed.  Yahiko nodded to him gratefully, deciding that Katsu wouldn't be the last freed after all, as the others quieted down.

"Look, we don't have a lot of time," Yahiko told his captive audience.  "I didn't have to come back here, you know.  Hell, no one in his right mind would come back here after escaping.  But I don't know of a person in here who wouldn't like to bring Shibumi down, and I believe that this is the best way.  I'm sure you've noticed that there are only a few guards here right now.  If I cut you free, you can overpower them and escape," he turned to Katsu, "and I'm not a kid."  

"And how will this help bring Shibumi down?" Katsu asked, ignoring him, looking pensive.

"Since we'll have tied the guards up, we will be in control of _when_ the alarm sounds.  Almost everybody will be long gone by the time Shibumi knows anything is wrong; and we will make sure that the Daimyo finds out in the middle of his important meeting with the Shogun."

"I'm in," Katsu said as the other prisoners started quietly debating among themselves.  "What do we have to lose?" he asked the others as Yahiko sliced through the ropes binding him.  He shook his limbs to get the blood flowing again.

"Our lives?" someone called, facetiously.  Someone else snickered.  Yahiko cast a glare around the room, but Katsu spoke before he got the chance.

"Only if you call this 'living,'" he said sternly.  There were murmurs of agreement, and if any of the other prisoners didn't want to escape, he hid it well.

***

            If Usui had had eyes at the moment, he was sure that they would be rolling.  It seemed as if every tatami mat in Aizu covered the plank floors of Shibumi's large room of state; and he knew that if he moved the wrong way, he would knock over some ridiculous arrangement of winter grasses that Shibumi had fussed over. Underneath the plaintive notes of the samisen, Usui could hear the bored breathing of Shibumi's latest geisha boy/bed-warmer as he plucked indifferently at the strings.

As it was, even Usui tuned out Shibumi's droning recitation of some obscure Court welcoming poem, and instead focused all of his considerable attention upon the Shogun, Hiko Seijuurou. Usui could tell that the only part of Aizu's hospitality that impressed the Emperor's emissary was the copious amounts of early morning sake; and as impassive as he seemed, if his heartbeat and his teeth grinding meant anything, Hiko was impatient to get down to business.  However, despite the cloud of sake fumes rolling from the Shogun, Usui's 'Eye of the Heart' could tell that the man was not in the least impaired.

Much to the collective relief of everyone in the room, Shibumi's long winded ceremony wound to its conclusion after another quarter of an hour.  Usui smirked to himself as everyone from the courtiers in Hiko's party to the geisha who'd been playing the samisen subtly shifted and sighed.

"You are a follower of the latest trends in Heian-kyo, I see," Hiko's deep voice said as the last note shivered out of existence.  Usui stifled a sigh as he listened to Shibumi flush with pride at the acknowledgement of his 'Courtliness.'  Hiko's words had been polite, but the Captain of Aizu's guard could hear a trap being laid, and he cursed the day that he tied his fate to Shibumi's.

"It is the duty of every civilized man to bring the beauty, art and manners of our glorious Emperor to the vulgar common people in the hinterlands," Shibumi preened.

"Ah, I see," Hiko said, and Usui was sure that he couldn't be alone in hearing the smirk in the Shogun's voice.  "I am but a simple soldier, Lord Shibumi, rarely blessed with the opportunity to participate in such spectacle, since the Emperor often sends me away from the City of Peace and Tranquility to deal with military problems," Hiko said in a falsely wistful tone.  "I do find it odd, however, that you, being such a devotee of the culture of the Capital would be so remiss in paying your share for its defense.  Would you care to explain your actions?"  The courtiers, scandalized, murmured behind their fans at the Shogun's candor.  Usui bit his tongue to stop himself from laughing at Shibumi's sputtered attempt at a denial.  If his future had not been bound to that of the Lord of Aizu, then he would have found Hiko Seijuurou's unseemly directness to be refreshing.  Usui was wondering exactly how he should step in to save Shibumi's ass, when the manor bell began to sing out, quickly echoed by the gongs and bells of Aizu proper.  The courtiers' murmurs grew louder; the Shogun's demeanor, however, was amused.

"Usui!" Shibumi hissed unnecessarily since Usui was already making his way toward the door.  He quickly slid back the screen, startling the guard who had been working up his courage to knock.

"Well, what is the alarm about?" Usui asked coldly, as he listening to the man's galloping heartbeat as the guard bowed and struggled to regain his composure.

"Sir!  More prisoners have escaped from the dungeon," Moriyama said tensely.  "Shindou Tatewaki is rounding up all of the guards who were searching for spies to go after them."  Usui dismissed Shibumi's pained groan as it became obvious that Moriyama was not finished.

"And?"  Moriyama flushed with alarmed excitement. 

"Sir, Captain Saitou Hajime is here and has issued a challenge to the Daimyo."  Usui smirked, feeling the stirring of his own blood at young guard's words. 

"This is all _his_ doing!  Why didn't you kill him?"  Shibumi fairly shrieked at Moriyama.  The Daimyo smelled of fear and anger.  Usui pushed his way past the young soldier, as he abased himself on the tatami.  

"My Lord, I have neither the rank nor the stature to accept a challenge from Captain Saitou. . ."  Usui found himself frowning at the respect in Moriyama's voice; it was long past the time that he removed the former Captain of Aizu's guard from this life.

***

The sight that met Shibumi's, the Shogun's and the courtiers' eyes as they filed out onto the wide, covered veranda that faced the estate's courtyard and lake, made the Daimyo's blood run cold.  Saitou Hajime, in full armor, bowed at the waist toward the Shogun as he sat astride his big black horse in the middle of the courtyard, a sneer on his thin lips.  To the far side of the courtyard Usui was already mounting his equally impressive dapple gray horse.  Shibumi scanned the strangely dark but clear blue skies for a glimpse of the eagle that he knew should be close by without success.

"I've been waiting for this day, Saitou Hajime," Usui called out in a voice that carried over the excited whispers of the courtiers.  "Your life was forfeit the moment you stepped foot within Aizu's borders.  I'll glory in being the instrument that sends you to hell for breaking faith with the Daimyo."  For a moment, Shibumi was proud that the blind man owed his allegiance to him; however, the Shogun's deep, sarcastic voice brought him back to reality.

"He's a bit melodramatic, don't you think?" Hiko asked facetiously, raising his sake cup to his lips.  Shibumi ignored the irritating man as Saitou wheeled his horse toward Usui.

"Step aside, Uonuma Usui.  Words of honor have no business in the mouth of a bully who kills for the joy of killing.  No man of honor would knowingly serve a Daimyo who beggars his own people to enrich himself."  Shibumi found himself flushing as Saitou's words, seemingly chosen to enflame Usui, and filled the courtyard.  Saitou directed his narrow amber glare at the Daimyo.  "Nor will I accept the justice of a man who abuses his power by threatening and murdering people under his care in order to force himself upon a child who had sense enough to reject him."

"He lies!  I am the Daimyo, why would anyone reject me?" Shibumi found himself shouting, as his mind's eye saw his all of his careful plans, along with his entire world, crumbling around him; even the winter bright sky seemed to dim.  The Shogun raised a derisive eyebrow as he unsheathed the shorter of his swords and handed it to the Daimyo.

"Only a fool would proclaim such things in front of witnesses without evidence, my Lord of Aizu.  So, it becomes a trial by combat, a matter for the Kami to decide," Hiko said coolly.  Shibumi stared down at the surprisingly heavy wakizashi.  "However, if your man loses, then you should do the honorable thing."

"Kill him, Usui!"   Shibumi shouted, ignoring the sword in his hand.  His champion needed no urging.  The gray horse reared and began charging as Usui lifted his weighted spear.

Shibumi, of course, had known of Usui's prowess with his chosen weapon and his absolute ruthlessness; those were the reasons that he had made the blind man the Captain of his guards in the first place.  However, not being a warrior himself, he had not appreciated, until now, the brutally efficient grace of the man.  Twice the two Captains clashed, their horses fighting as hard as their masters: rearing, kicking, and biting as the two men battled.  Twice they separated; Saitou's katana deflecting Usui's spear enough to save his life, but not enough to avoid being wounded: a slash across his left thigh, and a slice across his right arm.  Usui himself was unscathed.

Usui turned his horse at the far end of the courtyard and laughed.  "Where is your talk of honor now, Saitou?" Usui asked mockingly.  Saitou said nothing, slumping slightly in his saddle in response.  "Is this the best you can do?" Usui's voice turned deadly serious.  "Then prepare to die, because my 'Eye of the Heart' can see every move you plan to make."  Shibumi allowed himself a broad smile; too often he had been on the receiving end of Usui's taunts, and he knew that now his Captain was through toying with their enemy.  Usui kicked the gray horse into a full gallop as Saitou sat motionless, shoulders wilted in defeat, waiting for his inevitable death.  

Whatever taunt Usui shouted as he closed in on Aizu's former Captain was lost to the observers on the veranda beneath the thunder of the gray's hooves.  Suddenly, at the last possible second, almost quicker than the eyes could see, the black horse, seemingly on his own volition, danced aside.  Saitou, standing in the stirrups, used his horse's pirouette to add momentum to his strike, sending Usui's head from his body like that of a low class criminal.  Shibumi blinked, his grin vanishing.

"Pathetic bully," Saitou said into the awed silence that had fallen among the observers as Usui's body fell, twitching, from his horse.  He nudged the black horse into a spirited trot across the courtyard and up the shallow steps of the veranda.  The Shogun turned to Shibumi.

"Well?"  

Shibumi, desperate under the aloof stares of Shogun and the courtiers, began to pray.

"Oni…oni!  Hear my plea.  The heart of Aizu is beset by enemies.  As Aizu's master, I demand you lend me your strength to defeat our foes."  The Shogun drew his katana.

"You dare…" was all he was able to say as, unexpectedly, the sun disappeared and the blanket of stars shone down upon Aizu.  The winter birds in the courtyard trees fell silent as screams and wails of despair from those on the veranda, and from those in the city itself, greeted the new night, and whispers of "…the oni... the oni has taken the sun…" reached Shibumi's ears.  

Several courtiers gasped and screamed again, and several began hurriedly scrambling away from the far side of the veranda and the huge, three-eyed, blue-skinned Oni who had manifested himself there with a roar and swinging of his massive club.  Shibumi smiled triumphantly:  there was no one who could stand against him.

***

Sano flapped his wings and let out an undignified squawk of surprise as he felt the change come upon his body.  He had become intimately attuned to the passage of time over the past two years, and knew that it was _much_ too soon in the day for this to be happening; something was wrong.  He quickly hopped from the perched he'd found for himself to the floor; it would be stupid of him to break his legs in an unnecessary fall.  

The change itself, usually almost instantaneous, was slow, but once completed, he looked around the room with human eyes, searching for a way to complete his interrupted task.  As he had changed, he'd heard the alarm bells and gongs, and listened as those guarding the door had been called away, so he knew that he wouldn't be interrupted, and this being Shibumi's trysting room, he knew that there was bound to be a knife (or two) here, somewhere:  the man didn't trust anyone enough for there not to be one.

The room was more cluttered than he remembered it being, but he easily found Shibumi's knife.  He sighed as he picked it up, wondering briefly how to make the most of his death.  He swiftly decided that Shibumi finding his bloody corpse on his trysting futon wouldn't cause the Daimyo to lose _enough_ face; he would definitely need witnesses.  Sano quickly put on the 'borrowed' yukata, picked up his jesses, and upon sliding the door open, started in surprise.  Kenshin stood there, dirty, with his blood red hair blackened with soot, looking just as surprised as Sano felt, hand raised to open the door.

"Sano," the wanderer said breathlessly as he grabbed Sano's wrist.  "I'm so glad... we need to hurry, that we do."

"Kenshin, what are you doing here?" Sano asked, taking his arm back.  Kenshin blinked.  "I have to do this.  Don't try to stop me…"

"Sano, you don't understand, that you don't.  Saitou is here in Aizu.  If you can get to him in time, the curse will be broken, that it will."

"And if I kill myself, the curse will be broken… you know what I did, what I said to him, Kenshin.  It's better this way."

"Sano, the eclipse is happening now!  You wouldn't be human right now if you and Saitou didn't love each other, that you wouldn't.  Saitou _loves_ you, that he does," Kenshin seemed to stumble slightly over the words, "and this is the only chance you'll ever have to set things right, to make sure justice is done, but you can't be afraid to take a chance." Kenshin's voice deepened, losing all of its politeness as he glared at the knife.  "_My_ Sanosuke would never take such an easy way out."  Sano flinched at the accusation, and examining the words from all angles, rapidly came to a realization.

"Saitou isn't the only one in Aizu who loves me, is he?" he asked quietly.  Kenshin smiled sadly and shook his head.

"You made your choice two years ago, when you went to him for help, that you did.  And I think…I think you made the right decision, that I do.  I just want to see you happy."  Sano kissed his friend's scarred cheek to assuage the shimmer of sadness he saw in the Wanderer's eyes.

"Maybe in another lifetime," he whispered softly; then he squared his shoulders.  Too many people had sacrificed too much for him as it was.  He vowed that their sacrifices would not be in vain.  "Alright then, Kenshin, let's finish this," he said resolutely, sweeping his way from the room.

"Maybe in another lifetime," he thought he heard Kenshin whisper from behind him.

***

Saitou slid from Horse's back, and ignoring the scowling, floating blue demon, at his back, drew his katana and stalked forward with death in his eyes.  "The Shogun has offered you an honorable death.  I would take it if I were you Shibumi; for if I kill you, you will die like the dog you are."

            The Daimyo looked down upon the Shogun's wakizashi in his hand and laughed.

            "My friend and I," he said, pointing at the demon, "don't think you will do it, Saitou.  You already know _his_ wrath.  Besides, if you kill me, the curse will _never_ end.  You really must think of Sanosuke."

            "Sanosuke is dead!"  Saitou growled, raising his sword further.  "Didn't you hear?  Before he died, Usui said that he had killed him!" He stepped menacingly toward Shibumi.  "The curse is over!"  Saitou's sword hummed through the air.  Shibumi stood his eyes wide with shock.

            "Saitou, no!" Himura's voice screeched into the silence of the court.

            "Hajime, stop!" a low voice that he hadn't heard with his human ears in over two years, that he never thought to hear again on this side of life, growled from behind him in the same instant.  Saitou's sword froze a fraction from Shibumi's neck, but Saitou didn't turn around, or move from his stance.  He watched Sanosuke's progress by the width of Shibumi's eyes, and the indrawn breaths of the courtiers.  

            A soft, sliding touch on his sword arm was his only indication that Sanosuke had reached him.  He didn't take his eyes off of Shibumi, however.

            "Hajime," Sanosuke sighed the name like a prayer for Saitou's ears alone as he slipped the sword from Saitou's suddenly nerveless fingers.  Saitou watched as the boy passed him, back straight, sword form perfect, thinking, '_When did he learn that?  He never knew it before,_' watched as the too short yukata exposed the boy's calves.  The disk of the Moon god, now sliding from the face of the Sun goddess, was less graceful than Sanosuke at that moment.  

The birds greeted the second dawn of the day as the stars slowly faded from the sky.

***

            Shibumi watched, with hope warring with despair in his heart, as Sagara Sanosuke took the katana from Saitou's hand with a small smile.  The boy was taller than he remembered, and even wearing an obviously stolen yukata, with his hair untamed, he looked better than any dream could have foretold in the strangely crisp half-light of the returning sun.  Unfortunately Shibumi's gaze strayed from the beauty before him to the hard eyes of Saitou Hajime, whose presence in Aizu ended the curse.  However, the silent oni, huge, blue-skinned and hideous, watching, arms across his chest, in the vacated corner, reassured him that he was still the master of Aizu and _everything_ in it; that not Saitou, not even the _Shogun _could oppose his will in the seat of his power.  He vowed to deal with the Emperor's insufferable envoy once Saitou was taken care of.

            His awareness focused on Sanosuke's sparkling brown eyes as the boy gazed at him through his long sooty lashes; and in a gesture that caused Shibumi's blood to pool in his groin, Sanosuke unhurriedly licked the perfect bow of his lip.  Shibumi couldn't help but smiled; he had been right of course, all of those years ago, when he had first seen the boy:   Sanosuke was one of those extremely rare people whose suffering and sorrow made them transcendently beautiful.  Everyone on the veranda held his or her breath.

Shibumi's heart continued to pound in his chest as Sanosuke bowed gracefully before him, giving him his due as his lord and lover.  "Sanosuke, I always knew that you would return to where you belonged:  to me, in Aizu," he whispered to the object of his desire; and turning to the assembled courtiers, Shibumi decided to show his own wit and graciousness with a quick poem to mark the occasion.  "I know that he is light and faithless, / But he has come back half repentant / and very pale and very sad. / A butterfly needs somewhere to rest / At evening."  The hard look in Sano's sable eyes brought him up short.

"No," Sanosuke's surprisingly deep voice rolled into the ensuing silence; Shibumi heart tried to stop.  "After all that you've done to me, to us; I'll _never_ come back to you, Shibumi.  I came to see justice done for my uncle's death, and for all of those you wrongly imprisoned or hurt to force me to do your bidding; and to give you these," the young man said, opening his clinched fist and letting red-tasseled, leather eagle jesses dangle from between his fingers.  "I don't think I'll need them anymore."  And so saying, he dropped the leather fetters to the ground at Shibumi's feet, and turned toward Saitou.

Embarrassed rage swept over Shibumi as he watched a small breeze stir one of the tassels.  '_How dare he reject me in front of the Shogun and his court? How dare he reject me at all?  I _am_ the master of Aizu!  I would have given him everything he could have ever wanted!'  _The Shogun's wakizashi was heavy in his hands.  "If I can't have you, then no man can," he muttered angrily, raising the short sword.

***

Sanosuke turned and smiled his most brilliant smile at Hajime.  It was over:  he had faced his worst fear and brought him low before the eyes of the whole court.  They had won; he loved Saitou, and Saitou loved him, and now they would be together, able to explore what that love meant.  Sano breathed a happy sigh.  A look of surprised fury crossed Saitou's face, and he heard both Yahiko and Kenshin yelling: "Sano, look out!" and "Behind you, Sano!"  He turned swiftly, swinging Saitou's katana in a deadly arc that slashed open Shibumi's abdomen, spilling the surprised Daimyo's intestines and blood to the tatami covered floor.  But, he was too slow, too late.  The cool, stinging bite of the short sword across his neck took his breath, and the adrenalin-fueled pounding of his heart pumped hot blood down his chest as he stumbled into Saitou's waiting arms.  They sank slowly to the ground together.

"Idiot! Ahou! Featherhead!" the older man yelled at him in a tight voice.  "What is the first rule of defense!?"  Sano tried to chuckle in spite of his pain and the sudden lack of air:  how like Saitou to think of defense at a time like this.

"I'm dying, and all you can say is 'What's the first rule of defense?'" Sano whispered, raising an eyebrow.  He was growing colder, numb, as the rush of his life's blood slowed, and his vision darkened, narrowing to Saitou's stricken look.  Sano hurried to reassure him.  "I know…I know…never turn your back to an enemy…You are _so_ practical… I've always loved that about you, Saitou…"

"You can't die.  You're to stubborn to die, remember?" Saitou whispered, holding Sano to his chest and rocking him gently, kissing him deeply, despite the blood.  Sano smiled wanly.

"This isn't fair…I don't want to die," Sano said breathlessly, bringing a bloody hand up to caress his love's cheek.  "But I don't think that will work this time, Hajime."  Saitou's hand was hot on his cooling skin as the man took the sword from his suddenly unfeeling fingers.

"You," Saitou's voice was a tight controlled growl in Sano's ear as the man pointed his sword at the oni.  The courtiers gasped at his audacity.  "You hid the sun, you were behind our curse, and you can save his life."

"You are very brave, little mortal, to think to threaten me.  However, I cannot do as you demand," the oni answered, in a voice that sounded like a rumble of thunder that scared the now awake birds from the trees.

"Cannot or will not?"  The oni laughed but did not answer his question.

"Clever, mortal.  Sagara Sanosuke was fated to die today.  However, his choices lead to the downfall of a tyrant.  His death is a noble one; in the end, there is nothing more that anyone can ask for."  Sano gasped as all feeling left his body, drawing Saitou's attention back to him.

"Saitou, as long as you are here with me, I am not afraid," he whispered.  He sighed as his felt his eyes close.  "I…always…loved...you…Hajime…"

The howl of the Wolf of Mibu was the last thing in his ears…

***

_Sanosuke's eyes were wide, and not so bright with fever anymore; his mouth made a little 'o' of surprise.  It was quite adorable, Saitou mused, although he didn't let the thought touch his features.  "The Daimyo of Aizu's death was long and drawn out, for no one would do him the honor of killing him mercifully; the oni, waiting for that moment, took his soul to hell.  And of course you know that the Wolf, being devoted to his friend, gently straightened the boy's body and said so that all assembled could hear._  'What has happened to my thoughts since I knew you? That is easy.  Until I knew you, I had no thoughts,'_ and then committed seppuku on the spot.  The end."_

_            "Oi!  What the hell kind of ending is that?" Sano asked indignantly.  Saitou felt a small smirk try to pull at his lips at the boy's confusion._

_            "Quite the proper ending, I assure you," he answered._

_            "But they _died," _Sano whined childishly.  Saitou didn't resist the urge to see how far he could push his young lover._

_            "They died after defeating their enemy, with their honor intact," Saitou corrected._

_            "But, but…" Sano stuttered, "...they didn't even get to have sex!  I can't believe you told me a story with a fucking depressing ending like that."  Saitou couldn't hide his smirk any longer._

_            "Pervert," Saitou snorted. "You thought I was telling you a Western fairytale? Ahou."  He reached out and ruffled Sanosuke's sweat damped, spiky hair._

_            "But they went through so much! Shouldn't you at least give them a happy ending?"_

_            "There is no such thing as a happy ending, Ahou," Saitou said smugly as Sano looked indignant again._

_            "Of course there's such a thing as a happy ending, you cynical old bastard…" Saitou held up his hand to cut him off._

_            "However, if it will get you to shut up…"_

_            "It will," Sano said quickly before he realized exactly _what_ he was saying.  He glared up at Saitou, who gave his lover his infamous 'cheery' (and quite scary to those who knew him well) smile._

_            "I do not think that I will even _try_ to resist a promise like that.  Hn.  A happy ending… The Shogun, himself moved by the tragedy that had just occurred, acted as the Wolf's second, striking off his head to end his suffering.  He then appointed the Wanderer to be the next Daimyo of Aizu; and the newly-made Daimyo immediately adopted the Thief, thus assuring that Aizu would have wise and compassionate leadership for the time being.  The Wanderer's first official act as Daimyo was to free all of the prisoners - starting the ancient tradition of freeing prisoners during an eclipse.  In the fullness of time, he had a shrine to the Wolf and the Eagle built upon the slopes of __Mount__Bandai__, so that Aizu would never forget the sacrifice that was made to free the prefecture from Shibumi's evil rule._

_"As for the lovers themselves, the Kami, seeing that they truly loved one another, gathered up their souls and took them to the Heavens, placing them West of the rising Sun and East of the setting Moon….  And if you look to the skies on cold, clear Winter nights, you can still see them there, the brightest of the Winter stars: the boy, hunting for rabbits, followed by his faithful Wolf; together eternally.  What they do during the day is not for me to tell.  The end.  How was that?"  Sano's smiled beatifically, his eyes shining._

_            "I think you missed your calling, Cop.  You definitely should have been a story teller.  Still, since _they_ didn't get to have sex, maybe you and I could…" Sano waggled his eyebrows suggestively.  Saitou raised one of his and barely touched his lips against Sano's now cool forehead._

_            "Ahou, you're still sick," Saitou murmured in his ear.  He stood, ignoring Sanosuke's frustrated squawk, and straightened his uniform jacket.  "Besides, I'm sure that you wouldn't want to get in trouble with the Fox Doctor, eh, Takani-sensei?"  The door slid open, and Megumi, blushing, walked in as dignifiedly as she could.  Sano gasped in surprise, while Saitou crossed his arms._

_            "How long have you known I was there?" Megumi asked huffily, trying to cover her embarrassment.  _

_"How long have you been there?" Sano rasped.  Saitou smirked at both of them._

_            "I knew as soon as you sat by the door," he said to Megumi; "and she never really left," he answered Sano._

_            "Well, I didn't want to interrupt you," she said, gathering her dignity.  "You _know_ you would have stopped as soon as I came in; and I wanted to hear the story.  The Roosterhead is right, though; you did miss your calling.  I'm really surprised that you're actually a good storyteller.  I'm from Aizu, and I've never heard that story before."_

_            "There are many things that you don't know, Takani-sensei," Saitou said as he put on his cap, and with it, his Fujita Goro persona.  He winked at Sano, who was trying to keep a straight face and failing.  Megumi swatted her patient for his impudence. "And now, I really should be getting back to work.  _

_"I know he can be annoying, Takani-sensei, but do try not to kill him while I'm gone.  I _might_ miss him." Saitou smirked at them both again, and slid the door shut before hearing Sanosuke's offended "Oi! What the hell do you mean by that?"  The Wolf found himself cheerily smiling yet again as he walked down the street, and ordinary citizens, not even knowing their rationale, moved out of his way._


	14. Epilogue

*EPILOGUE*  
  
Saitou sighed, allowing the post-coital fugue to drag his eyelashes down to his cheeks. Beside him, Sanosuke stretched luxuriously, yawning, letting his arms settle around him; and Saitou smiled a satisfied smile as sleep claimed him.  
  
"Hajime," Saitou barely heard Sano's rumbling whisper. "Oi, Saitou, you awake?" Sano asked, shaking him insistently.  
  
"What is it, Ahou?" Saitou asked, annoyed.  
  
"I've been thinking," Sano said. Saitou raised and eyebrow, and despite the fact that it was dark in the room, Sano knew exactly what his expression was. "Oi, stop looking at me like that. Do you remember that story you told me when I was sick?"  
  
"That was months ago, Ahou. Why are you thinking about it now?"  
  
"I just thought that they should have a happier ending, is all."  
  
"Well they are not getting one from me, Ahou. I told you, it wasn't a Western fairytale."  
  
"I knew you'd say that, that's why I made one up. Do you want to hear it?" Sano asked with a hopeful lilt to his gravelly voice.  
  
"Do I have a choice?" Saitou asked, unable to keep from teasing his young lover. Sano elbowed him in the ribs with a growl.  
  
"Just shut up and listen, old man. You can catch up on your beauty sleep in a few minutes." Saitou sighed in exasperation as Sano snuggled up against his side.  
  
"Now..."  
  
***  
  
Sanosuke turned and smiled his most brilliant smile at Hajime. It was over: he had faced his worst fear and brought him low before the eyes of the whole court. They had won; he loved Saitou, and Saitou loved him, and now they would be together, able to explore what that love meant. Sano breathed a happy sigh. A look of surprised fury crossed Saitou's face, and he heard both Yahiko and Kenshin yelling: "Sano, look out!" and "Behind you, Sano!" He turned swiftly, throwing Saitou's katana without thinking, as he'd seen Saitou himself do several times during their exile together.  
  
The Daimyo's eyes widened in surprise as the sword caught him in throat and pinned him to one of the poles holding up the roof of the veranda. The Shogun's unbloodied wakizashi fell to the floor with a clatter. "Why?" Shibumi whispered into the absolute stillness on the veranda as his life's blood ran from his neck and mouth. "I would...have...given you...anything, Sanosuke." The oni, three-eyed, blue-skinned and hideous, roared and gnashed his tusk-like teeth, causing everyone on the veranda and in the courtyard to jump. Sano was pulled into the protective circle of Saitou's arms as the demon raised his club and smashed it into Shibumi's dying body. A high pitched wailing shriek could be heard as the oni dragged Shibumi's spirit to hell. Sano, shaking, felt himself sag into the warmth of Saitou's arms.  
  
"Idiot! Ahou! Featherhead!" the older man yelled at him in a tight voice. "What is the first rule of defense!?" Sano couldn't help it, he started to laugh: how like Saitou to think of defense at a time like this.  
  
"'Never turn your back on an enemy,' " Sano quoted in his best Saitou Hajime imitation.  
  
"Ahou," Saitou growled as he turned the boy to face him, without letting him go. "Who told you that you could do something as stupid as throwing the sword? What would have happened if you had missed?"  
  
"You do it all the time!" Sano protested.  
  
"That's because, unlike you, I know what I'm doing, birdbrain!" Saitou yelled, shaking the boy a bit, still not letting him go. Sano was about to spit out an angry, blistering retort, when he looked down at Saitou's hands on his arms, and chuckled. They were human, together, and no silly argument would change that fact. He looked up into Saitou's amber eyes and saw the worry, anger and frustration there, and not caring that the entire court was watching them, stepped forward into Saitou's arms, and kissed him.  
  
"I love you, Hajime," he murmured against the older man's lips. "I've always loved you." Saitou's arms tightened around him, and the kissed deepened. A cheer arose from the courtiers on the veranda, and the two lovers separated.  
  
"I love you too, Ahou; but if you ever do anything that foolish again, I'll kill you myself," Saitou said with a wolfish grin.  
  
***  
  
The Shogun, appointed the Wanderer to be the next Daimyo of Aizu; and the newly-made Daimyo immediately adopted the Thief, thus assuring that Aizu would have wise and compassionate leadership for the foreseeable future. The Wanderer's first official act as Daimyo was to free all of the prisoners - starting the ancient tradition of freeing prisoners during an eclipse. The lovers moved away from the city of Aizu proper, to a small farm on Mt. Bandai, and lived a life full of arguments, happiness, sex and love. In the fullness of time, after they had both died of old age, the people of Aizu turned their modest home into a shrine, so that they would never forget the sacrifice that was made to free the prefecture from Shibumi's evil rule. The end...  
  
"What do you think?" A small, familiar snore greeted his question, and Sano frowned petulantly at his lover's sleeping form. "Cricket-faced old man, you're really lucky that I love you," Sano whispered as he settled back down into the curve of Hajime's body. He was just about asleep when the Wolf of Mibu rolled on top of him.  
  
"I'll show you who's old," Saitou gold eyes practically gleamed in the dark as he flashed a feral, sexy grin. "...and who's lucky." Sano could only squeak, as his old lover proceeded to do just that.  
  
The End. Really. 


End file.
